




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 


Chap._r^-J Copyright No., 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 









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NAZARETH 








EZEKIEL OF BETHLEHEM; 


FROM BETHLEHEM TO CALVARY. 



FANNY ALRICKS SHUGERT. 


WAR ^*61897 

^tcJ^monb, X)a.: 

Presbyterian Committee of Publication. 






Copyrighted 

BY 

JAS. K. HAZEN, Secretary of Publication. 

1896. 


Printed by 

Whittet & Shepperson, 
Richmond, Va. 


IN Loving remembrance op MY mother, 

jane aLricKs JOHNSON, 

WHO Was an humbLe, devoted follower op 
this same JESOs, the CHRIST. 


PhUadelphia, Aprd 9, 1896. 


F. A. 



CONTENTS. 


Chapter I., . 
Chapter II., 
Chapter III , 
Chapter IV., 
Chapter V , 
Chapter VI., 
Chapter VII., 
Chapter VIII., 
Chapter IX , 
Chapter X., 
Chapter XL, 
Chapter XII , 
Chapter XIII., 
Chapter XIV., 
Chapter XV., 
Chapter XVI., 
Chapter XVII., 
Chapter XVIII., 



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Conttnts . 

Page. 

Chaptee XIX., 

. 

. 133 

Chaptek XX., 

. 

. 138 

Chapter XXI., 


. 153 

Chapter XXII., 


. 160 

Chapter XXIII , . 


. 170 

Chapter XXIV., . 


. 176 

Chapter XXV., 


. 189 

Chapter XXVI., . 


. 196 

Chapter XXVII , 


. 205 

Chapter XXVIII., 


. 209 

Chapter XXIX., . 


. 216 

Chapter XXX., 


. 227 

Chapter XXXI., . 


. 241 

Chapter XXXII., 


. 254 

Chapter XXXIII., 

. 

. 265 

Chapter XXXIV., 

• * . . 

. 275 


Ezekiel oe Bethlehem. 


CHAPTEE 1. 

H! Mablah, Mahlah, haste thee, haste, 



and see the crowds of people coming,” 
shouted a small Israelitish boy to his sister. 

Little five-years-old Mahlah ran to him clap- 
ping her tiny hands with glee, “ I am so glad, 
Ezekiel, are not you ? ” 

“Yes, I am ; it isn’t every day we see a sight 
like this ; why the street is full of men, women, 
and animals. I wonder whence they all come ? ” 
“I have never before seen so many people, 
Ezekiel, why are they coming here ? ” 

“I heard our father say the people had to 
come here to be enrolled, but I don’t know what 
that means ; ah, here is our father now, let us 
ask him.” 

“What is it, my son, that thou wouldst in- 
quire of me ?” said the father, who, on approach- 
ing, had overheard Ezekiel. 

“Father, tell us why so many persons are 
coming to Bethlehem to-day.” 


8 Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

“Ah, my children, they come because the 
Roman Emperor decreed that each inhabitant 
of Judea must go to his own city, that is, the 
chief city of his tribe, to be enrolled.” 

“ What meanest thou, father, by ‘ enrolled ’ ” ? 

“ Each one is to have his name written on a 
census register kept for the purpose, the object 
of which is to enable the officers to know from 
whom to collect a tax, which is a certain sum 
of money people are required to pay to the 
Roman government.” 

“ Dost thou mean, father, that we Israelites 
must pay tax to the Romans ? ” spoke Ezekiel. 

“Yea, my son, we are no longer a free peo- 
ple ; the sceptre hath now departed from Judah, 
yet the old promise to us was that it should not 
depart until the Shiloh come.” 

“Father, when will he come?” 

“Alas! my son, I know not, would that he 
were here now to rule his people and free us 
from the Roman yoke ; it is a galling thing that 
we Israelites must pay tribute to a heathen, but 
all the world over which the Roman Emperor 
rules doeth the same ; he is, as it were, sov- 
ereign of the universe, and when he decrees the 
subordinate peoples must obey.” 

“ How long, father, will these strangers stay 
here?” 


9 


or. From Bethlehem to Calvary. 

“It may be a long time, my son, for the en- 
rolling is a slow process.” So saying the father 
entered the house, leaving Ezekiel and Mahlah 
gazing upon the novel sight. 

Watching the living panorama passing before 
them, afforded the children much entertain- 
ment for several days, after that, the number of 
strangers gradually decreased, until only occa- 
sionally a little group of them was to be seen 
coming. 

“Now, children,” said their father, “I hope 
thou art satisfied with what thou hast beheld 
the last few days.” 

“Dost not think, father, more people are 
coming?” 

“Nay, my son, all of them must be here by 
this time, Bethlehem has never held so many 
people before, I know not where any more 
could find lodging.” 

When night settled down upon the ordina- 
rily quiet town of Bethlehem, the dwelling houses 
and also the square fiat-roofed khan or inn, of 
rough stones, were crowded with strangers; 
every available spot in them was occupied with 
people and goods of all kinds. 

Beside the inn, was a court for animals, an 
inclosure of flat rocks bounded it upon two 
sides and a limestone bluff upon the others^ 


10 Ezekiel of Bethlehem / 

In the bluff was a cave, which had been used 
by the patriarchs of the tribe of Judah when 
they had lived and ruled in the khan; hither 
their cattle were often driven for security, and 
here were the mangers used by them. Some 
of the strangers, who came late, were obliged 
to find quarters in this cave ; among those so 
necessitated were Joseph and Mary his es- 
poused wife, who came from Nazareth to Bethle- 
hem, because they were of the family of David, 
and Bethlehem was “ the city of David.” 

A fairer day ne’er dawned upon earth than 
was the following one ; no wonder the sun shed 
down his rays with such an effulgence of splen- 
dor ; no wonder the winter air breathed health 
and strength to all mankind, for, during the 
night just passed, a little stranger had arrived 
in Bethlehem, and his mother Mary, who came 
with Joseph, ‘‘ wrapped him in swaddling- 
clothes and laid him in a manger.” 

All the town was in excitement over the news 
that some shepherds, not very far away, while 
watching their fiocks had been surrounded by 
the glory of the Lord and had heard angelic 
voices proclaim, “Fear not; for behold I bring 
you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to 
all people, for unto you is born this day in the 
city of David, a Saviour which is Christ the 


OTy From Bethlehem to Calvary. 11 

Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you : ye 
shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling- 
clothes, lying in a manger.” 

Whilst the startled shepherds gazed in silent 
wonder upon the scene, strains of sweetest mu- 
sic fell upon their ears, as the words “ Glory to 
God in the highest, and on earth peace, good 
will toward men,” chanted by a heavenly choir, 
rose and swelled upon the breezes of that 
strange night, that brought the little Christ 
child to earth — the child toward whom the de- 
cades of the past had pointed, of whom pro- 
phetic utterance had foretold, and the one to 
whom all future ages would look back, and con- 
fess as the Eedeemer of the world, the 
Saviour of mankind! 

The first hour of the morning was scarcely 
passed, before the father of Ezekiel and Mahlah 
was astir, and, having performed his devotions, 
was out upon the street, people were hurriedly 
going to and fro, many little groups of them 
were standing about, eagerly talking and ges- 
ticulating; one of his acquaintances saluted 
him with : “Hast heard the news, Ephraim? ” 

“Nay, my friend, I was marveling what 
meaneth all this commotion.” 

“Ah, it is wonderful, wonderful, what thinkest 
thou, it is said the Messiah hath come 1 ” 


12 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem : 

“Hath come? whence and how? we have 
waited so long for his appearing.” 

“That is the amazing part of it; he was 
born last night, and is even now lying in a 
manger.” 

“Born? and cradled in a manger? ’tis not 
thus our Messiah cometh.” 

“ But some shepherds vouch for it, that the 
God of our fathers, blessed be his name ! came 
and revealed this unto them.” 

“It passeth knowledge, my friend, it is too 
strange to be true, verily I cannot believe it.” 

“Yet they say they saw the glory of our God 
and heard the angels call the newly-born, Christ 
the Lord.” 

“Didst thou see these men?” 

“Yea, with mine own eyes I beheld them 
and heard them speak ; they are the men who 
tend the flocks in that field about ten or twelve 
furlongs hence.” 

“ I know them well — uncouth, but kindly men 
are they — why should they bring such a tale to 
Bethlehem now? we shall hear more of this, my 
friend, mark my words.” So saying, Ephraim 
retraced his steps and in a short time reached 
home. Here he recited to his astonished family 
the wonderful tidings; the mother, Ezekiel, and 
Mahlah listened attentively to him. 








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or. From Bethlehem to Calvary. 13 

“Were not the shepherds afraid?” asked 
Mahlah, when he had finished. 

“Tea, but after a while their fear left them, 
and when the angels had gone and all was quiet 
again, they came with great haste into Bethle- 
hem to see if what they had heard were true.” 

“And was it, father? ” queried Ezekiel. 

The father paused before he replied : “ They 
said they found all as the angels had pro- 
claimed.” 

“Didst thou go, father, to see the baby in a 
manger? ” said Mahlah ; “ oh, father, do go and 
take me with thee.” 

“ Nay, my daughter, I did not go.” 

“ Didn’t the angels say,” asked Ezekiel, “ that 
he is the Saviour which is Christ the Lord? 
Father, isn’t it the Christ we are looking for? 
perhaps this is he.” 

“Ah ! no, my son, our Messiah will come as a 
ruler, a king, not as a babe.” 

“ Why, then,” said the mother, “ should the 
angels make such an announcement to the 
shepherds ? ” 

“ I apprehend that the shepherds were ex- 
cited, and knew not the meaning of all the 
angels said.” 

“My husband, that could scarcely be, for you 
told us they found all exactly as the angels had 


14 Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

declared, even to the manner in which the babe 
was clad and the place where it lay. I have 
always been so happy in looking forward to the 
coming of our Messiah as a conqueror and our 
king. I like not to think of him in any other 
light, but I know ’tis a truth that the sceptre 
hath departed from Judah ; this very gathering 
of people here proves it, and I know our father 
Jacob assured us that the sceptre should not 
depart until the Shiloh come.” 

“ ’Tis a strange, strange thing, I cannot 
fathom it,” replied her husband; “if this be the 
Messiah, why was his coming not announced 
to our learned men, those high among our peo- 
ple, instead of to mere shepherds ? ” 

“ True, but I doubt not they are men of piety 
and devotion to our God ; who are more zealous 
than they in purifying themselves upon the Sab- 
bath day and then humbly sitting farthest from 
the ark ? who have more tender hearts, and who 
are more vigilant in defending weak and help- 
less creatures committed to their care? Yet, 
were he the Messiah, it is surprising, as thou 
sayest, that men of such low degree should be 
the first to do him homage.” 

“It is said they are telling all with whom 
they come in contact about it, and they are 
praising and giving glory to God.” 


or. From Bethlehera to Calvary, 15 

“ Didst thou not say the angels sang, ‘ Peace 
on earth, good-will to men ’ ? 

“ Yea, those were the words.” 

“ Peace on earth ! my husband that is so of a 
truth ; rememberest not the Janus temple gates 
are shut? and Rome rules the earth.!’ 

‘‘Yea; it is so.” 

“And, moreover, dost thou not think the time 
hath arrived for the Deliverer to come? hath 
not wickedness been excessive in both high 
places and low, and are not the minds of men 
looking forward for a some one or something, 
they understand not who or what, that shall 
appear to free the nations from this evil?” 

“ Yea, the world is ready I doubt not for the 
Messiah to come.” 

“And hath thou forgotten what the prophet 
Micah saith, ‘But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, 
though thou be little among the thousands of 
Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto 
me that is to be ruler in Israel’?” 

“Nay, I forgot it not; the prophet hath so 
said, but how couldst this babe be a ruler in 
Israel?” 

Ezekiel and Mahlah did not see the little 
Christ child in the manger ; when he was eight 
days old he was carried up to the temple at 
Jerusalem and circumcised and the name Jesus, 


16 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


which the angel had told his mother Mary to 
call him, was given ; henceforth he would be 
recognized as an Israelite. 

Thirty-three days after this, he was again 
taken to Jerusalem to be presented and conse- 
crated to the Lord. Before this service, Joseph 
and Mary offered, in accordance with the old 
ceremonial law, the sacrifice of either a pair of 
turtle-doves or two young pigeons, one for a 
burnt-offering, the other for a sin-offering for 
the purification of the mother ; after being 
sprinkled with some of the blood, the priest 
pronounced her legally clean, then, and not 
before, she could present her son to the Lord. 

While she was doing this, a devout man, 
named Simeon, to whom the Holy Spirit had 
declared that he should not die until he had 
seen the Lord’s Christ, came into the temple. 
As he witnessed the ceremony, the Holy Spirit 
revealed to him that the joy he had so long 
been anticipating was at this moment before 
him. Scarcely able to repress his feelings, he 
approaches Mary, and, taking the infant in his 
arms, gives expression to his emotion in the 
words, ‘‘ Lord, now lettest thou thy servant de- 
part in peace according to thy word ; for mine 
eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast 
prepared before the face of all people : a light 











or. From Bethlehem to Calvary. 17 

to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy 
people Israel.” 

While Simeon was speaking, an aged Gali- 
lean woman named Anna came up to them; 
as she listened to his touching words, the know- 
ledge came to her also, that not many .years 
hence, the innocent, helpless babe he held in 
his arms, would be the helper of all mankind. 
J oyfully she too thanked God that his promise 
to Israel was at length fulfilled ; that she beheld 
in the little Christ child before her the Messiah 
who would bring redemption to all his people. 


2 


CHAPTEK 11. 


HEBE is great excitement in Jerusalem,” 



X said Ezekiel’s father, who had just re- 
turned from that city, “ a company of men from 
the East, people call them ‘The Wise Men,' 
have arrived and are inquiring ‘Where is he 
that is born King of the Jews? for we have 
seen his star in the East and are come to wor- 
ship him,’ all Jerusalem is in a ferment, it de- 
lighteth the people to hear the Messiah hath 
come, but Herod feareth and hath called all 
the chief priests and scribes together and inter- 
rogated them, as to where it was prophecy 
said the Messiah should be born? To that 
they made answer, ‘Tn Bethlehem of Judea,’ 
then Herod summoned the Wise Men and asked 
them when the star appeared to them, and he 
told them to go to Bethlehem and search for 
the child, and when they found him to bring 
him word, so he could go and worship him 
also, but this he does not intend to do ; he only 
wants to get possession of the child to destroy 


him.” 


“Crafty Herod! I trust he may be defeated 


18 


or, From Bethlehem to Calvary. 19 

in his purposes, whether the little babe be 
really our promised king or not.” 

‘‘You speak truly, wife; he is a dangerous 
man. I, too, would be sorry to see the inno- 
cent babe in his power ; people call him ‘ Herod 
the Great,’ h.e is that alone in wicked deeds; 
ever since he was, in Rome, installed king of the 
Jews forty years ago, his conduct hath been 
most vile ; a man wlio could slay his own wife, 
as he did Mariamne, and his two sons Alexan- 
der and Aristobulus, would surely not stay his 
hand from this child if he chose to destroy it.” 

It was nearly eventide, when the Wise Men 
left Herod’s presence. As they mounted their 
camels at the khan in Jerusalem, the stars were 
twinkling above them, while larger than any 
other and shining with a light singularly bright, 
was the one that was to guide them to the ob- 
ject of their search. Ever looking to it for 
direction, they go out through the Bethlehem 
gate, which is in the western wall of Jerusalem, 
down the rough mountain road, on through the 
valleys and plains, up over hills they wend 
their way, until, by the light of their guiding 
star, they see Bethlehem’s white walls. 

In stately quietness, but for the sound of the 
bells on the camels, the Magi pass on. Lo ! as 
they watch the star, it stops in its course through 


20 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

the heavens, and the Wise Men know their 
journey is ended. The cavalcade halts at the 
gate of the khan, which gate is outside the 
walls of the town, the camels kneel, the travel- 
lers dismount, the keeper unbars the gate, and 
upon being inquired of for the child lately born, 
leads them through the court-yard, down the 
enclosure where the cattle are sheltered, to the 
shed which protected the entrance to the cave. 
Immediately overhead the star is blazing, and 
the Wise Men enter the lowly abode, to find the 
holy babe upon its mother’s knee. With rev- 
erence they prostrate themselves before him, 
never doubting his sovereignty, for them it is 
enough the star has led them thither ; and was 
it not God’s hand that moved the star? Ador- 
ingly they present unto him the costly offerings 
they have brought from their far off home : offer- 
ings meet only for a king, gold, frankincense, 
and myrrh. 

Evening had deepened into night. The Wise 
Men had retired to the khan, wearied by their 
long journey and happy that their mission had 
been accomplished, they slumbered peacefully, 
but in their dreams, the angel of the Lord came to 
them and warned them not to make any report 
to Herod, but go homeward by another route. 

Joseph and Mary, not apprehending any 


or^ From Bethlehem to Calvary, 21 

danger, were calmly sleeping when the angel of 
the Lord appeared to Joseph and told him to 
take the young child and his mother and go 
away to Egypt, a distant country, and remain 
there until he bade him return, because Herod 
would seek for the child to destroy it. 

Before the last of the night watches had 
passed away, ere Ezekiel, Mahlah, and any of 
Bethlehem’s inhabitants were awake, the Wise 
Men, aroused by their heavenly visitant, were 
making their preparations for departure and as 
their servants were equipping the drowsy 
camels for their journey, there passed through 
the court, yard of the khan, Joseph leading an 
giss, upon which Mary was seated with the pre- 
cious baby nestled close to her bosom. Out 
over the stony road they go; many tedious 
miles lay before them, but if Herod be ill- 
disposed toward the child, they know that 
there is no place in Palestine where he would 
be safe, so, at their Lord’s command, they un- 
dertake the journey, never murmuring, never 
doubting, only hastening to do his bidding. 

A few days after the foregoing events oc- 
curred, Ephraim’s wife, seeing him come into 
the house at a very unusual pace, said : “ My 
husband, what hath happened? thou seemest 
in much haste.” 


22 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

“Aye,” he excitedly exclaimed, “I know not 
what will become of our nation ; affairs are 
getting worse and worse, I just heard some 
startling news: it is said Herod, impatiently 
awaited the return of the Magi, but when they 
came not and he realized that his stratagem to 
get possession of the child some persons say is 
our Messiah, had been thwarted, he became 
exceeding wroth and commanded that all male 
children of two years old and under, living 
here and in the surrounding country, should 
be slain.” 

“List! what are those fearful shrieks I hear 
without?” said his wife. 

The children, having heard their father’s 
voice elevated to an unwonted pitch, ran into 
the room and were listening to him in aston- 
ishment, when the cries from the outside 
reached them. 

“ Oh ! mother, mother, will they come for 
us ? ” sobbed Mahlah, clinging to her mother’s 
robe. 

“Nay, my daughter, I thank the God of our 
fathers, that thou art too old to come under 
wicked Herod’s decree. Isn’t it, my husband, 
a fulfillment of the prophecy by Jeremiah ?” 

“ Thou reforest to the passage, ‘A voice was 
heard in Eamah, lamentation, and bitter weep- 


or, From Bethlehem to Calvary. 23 

ing; Eachel weeping for her children refused 
to be comforted for her children, because they 
were not,’ it seems like a confirmation of that 
prophecy.” 

“ Though it is so distressing the dear children 
should die in this way, I am sure our God will 
take them home to dwell with him ; yet, oh ! 
how hard it is for the parents to give them up.” 

“ Doth Herod think if he kills all the male 
infants here, that he will certainly slay the 
one the Wise Men called Hhe king of the 
Jews’? ” asked Ezekiel. 

“ Yea, I think that must be his idea ; Herod 
doth not want a rival to his throne, even if that 
rival be a tiny babe, he is full well aware the 
Jewish people have no love for him, so he 
would not scruple to use any means to rid 
himself of a real or supposed rival, being an 
usurper, he was alarmed at the intelligence 
brought by the Wise Men.” 

“ I hope he will not find him.” 

“ Nay, my son, there is no probability of 
Herod finding [the child, for Joseph and Mary 
and the babe disappeared just previous to the 
departure of the Eastern travellers ; no one hath 
information why they went, or where they went 
to.” 


CHAPTEK III. 



URING the three years that followed the 


1 J events recorded in the last chapter, affairs 
moved . on quietly in Palestine ; life was much 
the same as it had been ; Ezekiel, Mahlah, and 
the other children in Bethlehem had studied 
the tasks allotted them, and played the games 
commonly indulged in by children of that day. 
Ezekiel and Mahlah were both carefully trained 
in the doctrines of the old Mosaic law, but nei- 
ther of them had forgotten the incidents which 
made such a deep impression three years be- 
fore, and they often talked of the infant Jesus, 
whom the wise men had worshipped as ‘‘the 
King of the Jews,” and wondered what had 
become of him. 

“ Oh ! mother,” cried Ezekiel, one day, com- 
ing into the room where she was, “the boys 
say that wicked Herod is dead.” 

“Well, my dear,” replied his mother, “no 
one will be sorry that he has gone to give an 
account of the deeds done while he was living.” 

“Now mother, his son will reign in his stead, 
I suppose.” 

“Yea, Archelaus is his name, and of all 


24 


or. From Bethlehem to Calvary. 25 

Herod’s sons he is the one most like his father. 
Would that we had a ruler of our own!” 

‘‘ If only the Messiah would come, it would be 
better for our people, would it not, mother?” 

“Yea, far better, my boy.” 

One night an angel of the Lord appeared in 
a dream to Joseph, and said : “Arise, and take 
the young child and his mother, and go into 
the land of Israel: for they are dead which 
sought the young child’s life.” 

Obedient to the heavenly voice, Joseph, 
Mary, and the child left their refuge in Egypt, 
and returned to the land of their nativity. 

In lower Galilee there lies a valley. Upon 
the side of one of the fourteen surrounding 
hills, and upon its top, nearly twelve hundred 
feet above the sea level, was built the village 
of Nazareth. Here, up the narrow mountain 
path, Joseph brought Mary and the child to 
live in one of its humble dwellings. 

Beautiful was the devotion shown by the 
younger members of the family circle to their 
elders in these old Israelitish homes, and the 
reverence of child manifested for parent was a 
magnificent model, worthy of imitation far 
away in this nineteenth century. 

Both Joseph and Mary were educators of 
the child, so the boy Jesus learned to read the 


26 Ezekiel of Bethlehem / 

Scriptures, whence he drew lessons of wisdom 
and love, and of things concerning both the 
moral and ceremonial law. We are told that 
“ he grew, and waxed strong in spirit : and the 
favor of God was upon him.” 

There were five annual festivals held in Je- 
rusalem : the Passover, the Pentecost, or feast 
of harvest, the feast of Tabernacles, the feast 
of Trumpets, and the day of Expiation. All the 
males of Israel went to Jerusalem to attend 
the first three of these feasts. Each year Jo- 
seph and Mary went to Jerusalem to celebrate 
the Passover. To all Jews this was the most 
important of their annual sacred feasts, and 
not only commemorated their deliverance when 
the angel of death passed over the houses in 
Egypt where the lintels of the doors were 
sprinkled with blood, but it was also an offer- 
ing each family made, that its sins during the 
year might be passed over. The fifteenth of 
Nisan, or our April, which commenced at sun- 
set of the fourteenth, was the day of celebra- 
tion. The fourteenth, which began at sunset 
of the thirteenth, was the day of preparation, 
or the feast of unleavened bread. Each house 
and all vessels in it were on this day purified ; 
for seven days from this time no leaven would 
be allowed anywhere. Extraordinary care was 


(9r, Froin Bethlehem to Calvary, 27 

taken in drawing the water for grinding the 
flour and baking of the bread. Each family 
provided a male lamb without blemish, which, 
on the afternoon of the fourteenth, was taken 
to the temple, where it was slain and prepared, 
in the ‘‘forecourts” of the building, for roast- 
ing. After it was opened and skinned, the tail 
and the fat were handed to a priest and burned 
upon the altar as an offering to God. Then 
the head of the family carried the lamb home 
to be roasted. 

Thousands of fires were burning to roast the 
lambs whole; not a bone of them was to be 
broken ; all of them were required to be killed 
and eaten between the hours of three in the 
afternoon and midnight. If any part of it was 
not eaten during the feast, it was required to 
be burned. 

Every house in the city was thrown open to 
strangers attending the feast. Each house was 
filled with guests, who ate the Passover supper 
with their hosts. Not fewer than ten, nor more 
than twenty, could form one company. Only 
men, and boys of fourteen years and over, par- 
took of the roasted lamb, unleavened bread, 
bitter herbs, a dish containing raisins, dates, 
and other fruits, on which vinegar had been 
poured, and all beaten and blended together 


28 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem. 


into a mixture commemorative of the mortar 
with which their forefathers had worked when 
in the land of the pyramids, and wine mixed 
with water ; all of which constituted the Paschal 
feast. During the ceremony the youngest one 
at the table inquired its meaning. The ques- 
tions and answers about it were always the 
same : the old story of the lamb slain by the 
ancient Israelites in the land of their captivity 
the evening before they fled from Egypt, and 
sprinkling the door-posts with some of its blood 
as an indicator for the destroying angel to pass 
over houses so marked; and their wonderful 
passage through the bed of the Eed Sea, with 
the watery walls towering on either side of them 
and the armed hosts of Egypt upon their rear; 
and their signal deliverance from their pursuers 
by the hand of the Lord moving the mighty 
mass of waters back to its place and engulfing 
them — all was rehearsed year after year, in a 
formula determined by the rabbis. 

At midnight the gates of the temple, which 
had been closed throughout the ceremony, were 
again opened and the people thronged through 
them, bearing thank-offerings to the Lord. 

On the fifteenth no servile work could be 
done, it was kept as a Sabbath; on the third 
day of the Feast crowds of people followed 


29 


(?/’, From Bethlehem to Calvary, 

after the men who had been sent by the priests, 
to the valley of the Keclron, to cut and bring to 
the temple a sheaf of the first ripened grain, to 
be waved before God. Thus did the people 
recognize his munificence toward them, and 
until this was done, no field in the land could 
be harvested, the only exception being to obtain 
food for cattle. The three remaining days were 
only half-holy ones, and the last day was ob- 
served as a Sabbath. 

Jesus, having completed his twelfth year, the 
age at which the Jewish law declares, that ‘‘ a 
boy is from henceforth a son of the law, and 
must be accountable for his own sins,” Joseph 
and Mary took him with them to the Passover 
Feast. What a sight it must have been to him, 
the holy city with hill after hill rising around it, 
their declivities and the valleys between, gar- 
dens of loveliness, rich with fig, olive, and 
almond trees ; the verdure dotted with the tents 
of those who came to the feast after the houses 
were filled ; the streets of the city teeming with 
people; the sacred feast of which he had so 
often heard, but of which he had never before 
been partaker, the gorgeous temple with its im- 
pressive services, the white-robed' priests, the 
massive buildings of the holy city, all, all a new 
revelation to him. 


30 Ezehiel of Bethlehem; 

Since Ezekiel had attained his thirteenth 
year, he had regularly accompanied his parents 
to Jerusalem, when they went to attend the 
Passover, as he grew older he took more in- 
terest in the celebration of it ; his anticipations 
of pleasure were always realized, for among the 
people there he met friends and relatives from 
distant parts of the country, who came to the 
city three times a year, if possible, to attend 
the great festivals. 

“ Mother,” said Ezekiel, on one of these occa- 
sions, as he approached her, while she was con- 
versing with some friends on one of the streets, 
“I heard a short time ago that a child is lost 
and his parents are seeking him, didst thou 
notice a stray lad passing this way?” 

“Nay, I did not, in such a throng it will be 
difficult to find a lost child.” 

“I fear so, I am very solicitous about this 
one ; thou rememberest, I know, the child that 
was born when the people came to Bethlehem 
to be taxed, twelve years ago, the little one that 
the Wise Men came from the east to do homage 
to, as the king of the Jews?” 

“ Yea, my son, surely I do.” 

“He is the lost boy, dost thou wonder I am 
interested in finding him? I was only a lad 
of seven years then, but I well recollect the 


or, From Bethlehem to Calvary, 31 

impression all connected with the occurrence 
made upon me, and though I am now a man of 
twenty it all comes up before me ; how I wished 
in my childish heart that he might prove to be 
the Messiah for our people.” 

“It is sad to think he is lost; how did it 
happen ? ” 

“As well as I can learn, Joseph and Mary 
started with many others on their homeward 
journey to Nazareth, of course, all was bustle 
and confusion, thinking the boy was near them, 
or back in the crowd with some of their friends, 
they gave no heed to his absence, but after they 
had gone a day’s journey, and different com- 
panies of their fellow-travellers had left them, 
at places where roads branched off, and he did 
not come up to them, they became alarmed and 
went among their remaining companions, mak- 
ing inquiries, but no one had seen him ; so 
returning disheartened and affrighted to the city, 
thejj have been searching for him here, and 
now, mother, I must go and see if I can help 
them, or if there be any news of the missing 
one.” So saying, Ezekiel left her. 

Making his way among the groups of per- 
sons scattered about on the narrow streets, 
rapidly passing up one and down another, till 
he came nigh the temple ; pausing there to look 


32 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem; 


oyer the thoroughfare so lately filled with people 
he descried an anxious, sorrowful-looking man 
and woman, with a few companions, eagerly 
casting their eyes hither and thither, as though 
seeking some one. “ Surely,” Ezekiel surmised, 
“that must be Joseph and Mary, I will wait 
here for them and attach myself to their party, 
I too, would know the fate of the boy Jesus.” 

As they approached, Ezekiel, stepping up to 
the troubled woman, said : “Art thou Mary ? 
and hast thou found him ? ” 

“Him”? asked the woman, “my boy 
Jesus? ” 

“ Yea ; he whom the Wise Men called, ‘ The 
King of the Jews’.” 

“We have not found him, we go now to the 
temple seeking the lost.” 

Silence fell upon the little company as they 
drew near the sacred edifice. Entering one of 
the courts, they beheld, with amazement, the 
boy sitting among the doctors of the law, at the 
rabbis’ feet, both hearing them and answering 
questions. 

The mother going up to him said : “ Son, 
why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold thy 
father and I have sought thee sorrowing.” 

The boy ceased talking, and looking lovingly 
up into his mother’s face replied : “ How is it 


or^ From Bethlehem to Calvary. 33 

that ye sought me ? wist ye not that I must be 
about my Father’s business? ” 

His reply was inexplicable to both Mary and 
Joseph, — were glimpses of his divinity dawning 
upon his mind ? had he sought to learn more of 
his Father’s will in that Father’s house, from 
those learned in the law? They could not tell, 
their relief at finding him after their three days 
of distress was sufficient pleasure for them, 
without trying to discover the meaning of his 
words just then, but afterward, as the mother 
was going about her daily avocations, she 
thought over and over again of his strange 
answer, for ‘‘She kept all his sayings and 
pondered them in her heart.” 


3 


CHAPTEE IV. 


A bout seventeen years pass by, years 
which have brought many changes to 
Israel. Augustus, the Eoman Emperor, has 
passed away, and Tiberius Csesar reigns in his 
stead. ^ Archelaus is gone also. His brother, 
Herod Antipas, has been ever since his father’s 
death, and is yet, Tetrarch of Galilee and Pe- 
rea. Pontius Pilate is the Eoman governor of 
Judea. Annas, head of the Sadducees, and his 
son -in-law j Caiaphas, are the high priests at Je- 
rusalem. 

All these years God has been training and 
fitting Jesus the Christ, in his humble home at 
Nazareth, for the great work he had sent him 
into the world to do. His sinless nature, so 
little understood by his brethren and neigh- 
bors ; his love for all things created by his Fa- 
ther’s hand ; his spotless life of purity and de- 
votion, all identified him as one supremely dif- 
ferent from all others. Alone in his God-like 
spirit and human nature, as the years rolled by 
he “increased in wisdom and stature, and in 
favor with God and man.” 

The home at Bethlehem is unchanged, save 
34 


From Bethlehem to Calvary. 35 

that Ezekiel had brought thither, some years 
before, a young Jewish maiden as his wife, and 
now his aged father and mother are cheered 
by the sound of childish laughter and glee in 
the old home, for Ezekiel’s little boys and girls 
are the delight of their hearts. 

‘‘Strange news is abroad in the world to- 
day,” exclaimed Ezekiel. “ Father, didst thou 
hear aught of a new prophet whilst thou wert 
in the streets this morning?” 

“Nay, my son. It appeareth to me the very 
air is teeming with uncommon rumors ; people 
seem to be expecting something marvelous to 
happen; we Israelites are anticipating the com- 
ing of our Messiah, and the heathen are look- 
ing for I know not what. But who is the pro- 
phet thou speakest of?” 

“He is John, the son of Zacharias.” 

“John? He is one of a priestly race; he 
cometh from Hebron.” 

“He had been abiding in the wilderness of 
Judea, praying and watching for the advent of 
the Messiah, when w^ord came to him that he 
should ‘prepare the way of the Lord, and make 
his paths straight.’ He is clad, it is said, in a 
raiment of camel’s hair, and is preaching, say- 
ing, ‘ Kepent ye : for the kingdom of heaven is 
at hand.’ ” 


36 Ezekiel of Bethlehem; 

“ I know not, but it may be he of whom Esa- 
ias wrote, ‘Prepare ye the way of the Lord, 
make straight in the desert a highway for our 
God,’ ” replied the father. 

“ My husband, rememberest thou what Mala- 
chi said: ‘Behold, I will send my messenger, 
and he shall prepare the way before me : and 
the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come 
to his temple, even the messenger of the cove- 
nant, whom ye delight in : behold, he shall 
come, saith the Lord of hosts’? Oh! would 
that this prophet were the forerunner of our 
blessed Messiah!” 

“Jerusalem is much agitated about it ; crowds 
of persons are going out to hear him to-mor- 
row ; I shall go with them ; I have a strong de- 
sire to see and hear him.” 

The succeeding morning Ezekiel joined the 
party of his neighbors who were going to hear 
John preach. As they proceeded on their way, 
others fell in with them from time to time, so 
that when they reached Bethabara there was a 
goodly number of them. 

Upon Ezekiel’s return home some days after, 
the family were all desirous of hearing his re- 
port. 

“Now, my son,” said his father, “hast thou 
anything to tell us? ” 


or, From Bethlehem to Calvary. 37 

“Truly, my father, I witnessed a wonaerful 
sight. John stood upon the bank of the Jor- 
dan, clad, as were the prophets of old, in coarse 
camel’s hair; around him was a vast multitude 
of publicans, Sadducees, soldiers, and common 
people, all intent upon his words; and such 
w^ords as they were ! I have never heard any so 
well placed; each was just the right one in the 
right position. Boldly and fearlessly he called 
upon the multitude to repent, for ‘ the kingdom of 
heaven,’ he said, ‘is at hand.’ A deputation of 
priests and Levites, who had been sent from 
Jerusalem, asked him, ‘Who art thou? Art 
thou the Christ? ’ He made answer to them, 
‘I am not.’ Again they questioned, ‘Art tbou 
the Prophet Elias?’ John again replied, ‘I 
am not.’ Then said they, ‘Who art thou, that 
we may give an answer to them that sent us? 
What sayest thou of thyself ? ’ He said, ‘ I am 
the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make 
straight the way of the Lord, as said the pro- 
phet Esaias.’ ‘ Why baptizest thou, then,’ they 
asked, ‘if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, 
neither that Prophet?’ John answered them, 
saying, ‘ I baptize with water ; but there stand- 
eth one among you, whom ye know not : he it 
is who, coming after me, is preferred before 
me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to 


38 Ezekiel of Bethlehem; 

unloose. He shall baptize you with the Holy 
Ghost and with fire.’ ” 

“ The law, my son, what said he of it ? ” 

“He saith, ‘Moses gave us the law whereoy 
to live, but Jesus will give us grace and truth 
whereby to live.’ ” 

“My son, the finger of God writ our law. 
What greater can there be than it ? ” 

“This prophet saith that Jesus is the Son of 
God. Is not the Son, my father, greater than 
the law?” 

“ Did many receive the rite of baptism, which 
John advocates?” asked his father. 

“Yea, very many. It is different from the 
washing with water of our Mosaic law. John 
saith it is but a symbol of the cleansing needed 
in one’s heart and life ; an after-baptism by the 
Holy Spirit is necessary. It is given to none 
until he confesses his sins.” 

“ Our cleansing with water hath been and is 
a sacred type to us. Thou knowest that it hath 
been our custom to baptize the heathen when 
they forsake their deities and join themselves 
to Israel. Are we, God’s own peculiar people, 
heathen seeking to come to the Father’s house 
and enjoy communion with him?” 

“Nay, father, it but shows by a purer life 
that one’s turning from sin is a thing of reality. 


39 


or, From Bethlehem to Calvary. 

John directed us to go for help to the Messiah, 
whom he called ‘the Lamb of God, who taketh 
away the sins of the world.’ He said naught 
of the Messiah ruling as a king in Herod’s 
palace.” 

“My son, my son,” said the old Hebrew, 
sternly, “dost thou forget that ‘he shall rule 
his people Israel ’ ? ” 

“Nay, father; but this Messiah will establish 
a new kingdom, the kingdom of God, and those 
who believe in him will be his subjects; he will 
rule their lives, and teach them how to ‘ bring 
forth fruits meet for repentance,’ so John saith.” 

As if he did not hear him, the old man con- 
continued: “Our Messiah is to be the Deliv- 
erer of his people.” 

“Yea, father, the law showeth us our need of 
a Deliverer, and hath not Jesus come to deliver 
us from sin ? ” 

“ How sayeth this John that his Messiah will 
be the redemption for our people?” 

“Our redemption was ever purchased by 
blood. I know not yet how he will redeem 
us, Zachariah hath said, ‘They shall look on 
him whom they have pierced.’ One day Jesus, 
the son of Mary, came from Nazareth to the 
Jordan to be baptized by John, but he declined 
doing it, saying, ‘ I have need to be baptized of 
thee, and comest thou to me ? ’ ” 


40 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


“Wliat answered lie him?” 

“ Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh 
us to fulfil all righteousness.” 

‘‘ Did he baptize him then ? ” inquired his 
mother. 

“Yea, and ’tis said, that when he had so 
done, John saw a dove come from heaven and 
rest upon him; it was the Spirit of our God, 
my mother, I doubt not; and, moreover, he 
heard a voice which proceeded out of heaven, 
saying, ‘ This is my beloved Son, in whom I am 
well pleased. ’ ” 

“It was a marvelous revelation.” 

“ The next day, as John was preaching again 
to a crowd of people, he saw Jesus coming 
toward him and said to them, ‘ Behold the 
Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of 
the world ! ^ This is he of whom I said, ‘After 
me cometh a man which is preferred before 
me: for he was before me; and I knew him 
not: but that he should be made manifest to 
Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with 
water.’ John further said : ‘I saw the Spirit 
descending from heaven like a dove, and it 
abode upon him ; and I knew him not : but he 
that sent me to baptize with water, he said 
unto me, upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit 
descending, and remaining on him, the same is 


or, From Bethlehem to Calvary. 41 

lie which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And 
I saw, and bear record that this is the Son of 
God.’ ” Ezekiel paused in his narrative. 

“Jesus — Mary — Nazareth! Can it be possi- 
ble, Ezekiel, that he, whom thou speakest of, is 
the same as he who was born here when we 
were children? the one whom the Wise Men 
called ‘ The king of the Jews.’ ” 

“ Yea, Mahlah, he is the same ; thou remem- 
berest I saw him when he was twelve years old 
in the temple, talking to our learned men, and 
now, upon my visit to Bethabara, I saw him 
again, a man fully grown.” 

“ What manner of appearance hath this 
Jesus?” 

“ I can scarcely tell thee, Mahlah ; he hath 
the air of one who knows what mantle hung 
upon his shoulders, yet withal his humility and 
gentleness impress one most ; but, oh, his face, 
it hath an indescribable charm — love, love, 
seems graven upon it.” 

“All that thou tellest us, my son, is strange, 
yea more than strange ; I cannot comprehend it.” 

“Nor I, my father, if this Jesus be only a 
man, why did the God of our fathers, blessed 
be his name, honor him so by acknowledging 
him as ‘ his beloved Son,’ and sending the Holy 
Spirit down to rest upon him ? ” 


42 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


if he be our Messiah, why should he 
need baptism ? ” queried Mahlah. 

‘‘ If he be our Messiah, my daughter, he 
needs it not, this visible manifestation of the 
God of our fathers, it seemeth to me, is the con- 
secration of him for the mission he hath to 
perform on earth ; thou knowest how the sons 
of Aaron were dedicated for their holy office, 
with water and anointed with oil,” said the 
mother, now, alas! ever since we have wor- 
shipped in the second temple, that hath been 
done away with.” 

“ But, mother, why is it, that during all the 
years since his birth we have only once heard 
of his appearing in public, and that was when 
he talked in the temple?” inquired Mahlah. 

‘‘We can no more comprehend the ways of 
the Lord than we can tell what he saith when 
he speaks in the rolling thunder; dost thou 
remember, my Mahlah, that he was disciplin- 
ing Moses eighty years for his forty years of 
life work ? ” 

“Mother,” spoke Ezekiel, “Jesus hath lived 
to this time in a plain fashion, away up in 
Nazareth, I doubt if many outside of his own 
town had knowledge of him, and now that God 
hath anointed him with the Holy Spirit and 
with power, it seemeth to me his life wiU no 


43 


or. From BetTilehern to Calvary. 

longer be obscure, henceforth he will be, in- 
deed, the Messiah and lead us to the promised 
deliverance and redemption.” 

“ Where is he now, my son ? ” 

“ He hath gone, I heard, to the wilderness, 
father,” continued, Ezekiel, turning to that 
parent, ‘‘there is a momentous work before 
him, and, if he be the Son of God, the wilder- 
ness is a fitting place, amid its awful solitudes, 
to hold communion with his Father and further 
acquaint himself with his will.” 

The many years of training at Nazareth were 
not all that was required to fit Jesus for his 
great work of redemption ; one more discipline 
was added to make him perfect. He, the only 
sinless one on earth, was human as well as 
divine; how else could he “draw all men unto 
him ” and be for them a Saviour ? 

Satan, with all his subtlety, came to him, 
after he had been for some weeks in the wilder- 
derness, and tempted him three distinct times ; 
but, though hungry and faint, not all Satan’s 
persuasive powers could induce Jesus to dis- 
trust his Father, nor use his divine ability to 
create bread; neither would he yield when an 
earthly kingdom was held out to him — his king- 
dom should be one of love, his divine capacity 
should all be exerted for his Father’s glory and 


44 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


man’s good — nor yet, when all the kingdoms of 
the world and the glory of them were promised 
him, if he would fall down and worship Satan. 
Scornfully he thrust him aside, none other than 
his Father should be to him the supreme one 
to be worshipped and obeyed. Nobly he with- 
stood the temptation and vanquished Satan, 
and his Father testified to his approbation of 
his course by sending angels to minister unto 
him, and surely their fellowship and loving ser- 
vice must have been most welcome and sweet to 
the Son of God, after his long fast and weari- 
some struggle with the tempter. 


CHAPTEK y. 


“ OD be gracious to thee, Jotham,” said 

VIX^ Ezekiel, greeting his friend warmly. 
“What tidings dost thou bring us from the 
outer world ? ” 

News travelled slowly more than eighteen 
hundred years ago. 

“ I think not that anything of tumults would 
be news to thee, Ezekiel ; we have had naught 
else since the Komans ruled us.” 

“ ’Tis true, my friend. The tax they burden 
us with is one cause for them. Herod, or his 
son Archelaus, was not so bad as that Quirin- 
ius ; neither of them required a tenth of all our 
produce, but Quirinius hesitated not to make 
us pay one-tenth of our grain and two-tenths 
of all our fruits and wine. It was robbing the 
God of our fathers, Jotham. I marvel not that 
the rabbis say, ‘It doth defile the land.’ ” 

“Yea, what thou sayest is true. Hast thou 
heard, moreover, that Pilate hath marched his 
soldiers into Jerusalem by night, with the Eo- 
man eagles perched upon their standards?” 

“ Dare he thus profane our Holy City ? ” 

45 


46 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


“He hath so done, and hath planted them 
in sight of the temple, Ezekiel.” 

“Would our nation submit to that?” 

“Nay, the people rose and compelled the 
heathen to withdraw the hated emblems.” 

“’Tis well, ’tis well; but one wearies of such 
tidings. Hast thou not been in Galilee ? ” 

“Yea, Ezekiel. I will tell thee some things 
that I heard while there.” 

“Didst thou hear aught of Jesus, who was 
baptized by John, called ‘the Baptist’?” 

“Yea, it is of him that I would tell thee. It 
is said that John was standing with two of his 
disciples, and, seeing Jesus walking, exclaimed: 
‘Behold the Lamb of God!’ When the two 
heard these words, they left John and went af- 
ter Jesus. When Jesus saw them coming, he 
asked, ‘What seek ye?’ They said unto him, 
‘Rabbi, where dwellest thou?’ He said unto 
them, ‘ Come and see.’ ” 

“Did they go, Jotham?” 

“Yea, and they abode with him that day. 
One of them was named John, the other, An- 
drew. The latter went in search of his brother 
Simon Peter, and said to him, ‘We have found 
, the Messiah.’ And he brought him to Jesus.” 

“What thinkest thou, Jotham? Is he the 
Messiah ? ” 


FoVy rom Bethlehem to Calvary. 47 

“I know not, Ezekiel. He is preaching and 
calling upon the people to repent, ‘for the 
kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Afterward 
Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, and, 
seeing Andrew and Peter, who were fishermen, 
casting their net into the sea, he saith unto 
them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers 
of men.’ They immediately left their nets and 
followed him. Then, as they walked further 
on, he saw Zebedee in a ship with his two 
sons, James and John. He called them, and 
they also left the ship and their father, and 
followed him.” 

“What a wonderfully attractive manner he 
must have, that those men would leave their 
all and attach themselves to him at his bid- 
ding!” 

“ Yea, but that is not all. The next day after 
John and Andrew found the Messiah he found 
Philip, and said unto him, ‘ Follow me.’ ” 

“ Philip ? Is not he of Bethsaida, where the 
other four live ? ” 

“Yea, that is where they did live; they dwell 
in Capernaum now. Then Jesus and his four 
disciples went to Cana, a small town to the 
west of Capernaum. Philip had a friend there, 
named Nathanael. Going to see him, and find- 
ing him sitting under a fig tree, Philip saith : 
‘We have found him of whom Moses in the 


48 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Naz- 
areth, the son of Joseph.’ Nathanael said to 
him, ‘Can there any good thing come out of 
Nazareth?’ Philip replied, ‘Come and see.’ 
When Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, he 
said of him, ‘Behold an Israelite indeed, in 
whom is no guile!’ Nathanael must have in- 
quired of Jesus as to how he knew anything of 
him, for Jesus saith unto him, ‘Before that 
Philip called thee, when thou was under the fig 
tree, I saw thee.’ ” 

“ Those were surprising words, Jotham. How 
could he see when he was not present, were he 
not divine ? ” 

“So Nathanael thought, Ezekiel, for he said, 

‘ Babbi, thou art the Son of God ; thou art the 
King of Israel.’ Three days after these things 
I have told you of occurred, there was a marri- 
age at Cana. Either the bride or groom must 
be a relative of Jesus’ mother for she was pre- 
sent, and, from what I shall relate, appears to 
have been a person of influence there. Jesus 
and his disciples were also bidden to the feast. 
Wlien the supply of wine was exhausted, his 
mother, going to him, said: ‘They have no 
wine.’ ” 

“It was singular, Jotham, that she went to 
tell him of the need. It looketh much to me 


49 


0/*, From Beihleliem to Calvary. 

as though she knew that he had ability to sup- 
ply the deficiency. If so, she must attribute 
to him more than human power.” 

“She doth, Ezekiel. When he answered her, 
‘Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine 
hour is not yet come,’ she instructed the ser- 
vants to do whatsoever he commanded.” 

“Doubtless, Jotham, he speaketh the Greek 
language ; that word ‘ woman ’ showeth it ; with 
that race it is a term of honor, thou knowest ; 
and he, a ‘son of the law,’ would surely not 
have spoken to his mother otherwise than with 
respect.” 

“Yea, all the higher classes speak in that 
tongue ; Pilate himself doth use it, it is said.” 

“Yea; but proceed with thy story, Jotham, 
my friend.” 

“Listen well as I tell it thee, for thou hast 
never heard its like before. There were six 
large water-pots of stone standing there, after 
the custom of our people ; each of them would 
hold as much as two or three firkins. These Jesus 
told the servants to fill with water, and ‘they 
filled them to the brim.’ Then saith he unto 
them, ‘Draw out now, and bear unto the gov- 
ernor of the feast.’ When the governor had 
tasted it, he called the bridegroom, and saith 
to him, ‘ Every man at the beginning doth set 
4 


50 Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

forth good wine, and, when men have well 
drunk, then that which is worse ; but thou hast 
kept the good wine until now.’ Thou seest 
neither the governor, the bridegroom, nor any 
of the guests knew where the wine came from ; 
the servants alone knew. What thinkest thou 
of that, Ezekiel ? ” 

“ It was a miracle, Jotham, a miracle. Where 
is this Jesus now?” 

“After the marriage feast, he, his mother, 
and his disciples went to Capernaum. I know 
not whether they will tarry there long.” 

“I must see him, Jotham. I fain would sat- 
isfy myself whether he be the Messiah or not.” 


CHAPTEK VI. 


I T was the month of Nisan. The morning 
sun was shining brightly through the door- 
way of the room in which Mahlah and Naomi, 
Ezekiel’s wife, were seated upon the floor in 
the Eastern fashion, one on either side of two 
large, flat, round stones, between which was 
corn that they were grinding for the use of the 
family. Within, all was peace and quietness, 
save for the low, monotonous sound of the 
grinding; without, birds were twittering and 
hopping about, and bees were dancing from 
one bright-hued flower to another. Occasion- 
ally the voice of a happy child at play upon 
the street floated in through the doorway. 

Presently Naomi stopped turning the stone, 
and, looking up, said: “Mahlah, wouldst thou 
not like to see and hear this Jesus, of whom 
Ezekiel hath told us ? ” 

“Yea, Naomi, naught would delight me 
more.” 

“ The time of the Passover is nigh at hand, 
and he will be there, Mahlah.” 

“ But I fear the multitude will throng him so 
that we may not come nigh him.” 

51 


52 Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

“Fear not, it is said that many women fol- 
low him, and why should not we? The God of 
our fathers be praised that we keep the feast 
seven days.” 

“ Our father will not be well enough to go, 
and our mother will remain with him ; she will, 
at the same time, look after the little ones, so 
that our minds need not be burdened on their 
account. Moreover, as the mother cannot go, 
the ass will be at both thy service and mine.” 

“All hath been made ready on the roads for 
the feast, and men are even now taking their 
lambs, sheep, and oxen to the market in the 
temple. What a large number it requirethi 
One hundred thousand lambs, besides the sheep 
and oxen, I know not how many of them. It 
seemeth almost a cruel thing to slaughter so 
many of the innocent beasts.” 

“Yea, but it is typical of him, thou knowest, 
the coming Messiah, the Son of God.” 

“It is so, I know. Isaiah hath said, ‘ He is 
brought as a lamb to the slaughter.’ Yet,Mahlah, 
although I believe in the law and the prophets, 
I see not why our Messiah, the Son of God, 
should be led as a lamb to the slaughter.” 

“I do not comprehend it myself, Naomi, but 
mayhap this Jesus can enlighten thee and me.’* 

The road was crowded with travellers going 


or^ From Bethlehem to Calvary, 53 

to the feast, when, in the early morning, they 
set out for Jerusalem, Naomi mounted upon 
the ass, whilst Mahlah and Ezekiel walked one 
upon either side. 

Everywhere they were surrounded by beauty : 
the rich green of the plains, the glowing red 
and yellow of the roses and marigolds, the va- 
ried colors of the convolvulus and other flora 
that clambered over the hills, while their ears 
were gladdened by the warbling of sweet- voiced 
birds. When the Plain of Rephaim was reached, 
“Now, Mahlah,” said Naomi, “I shall get down, 
and thou shalt ride the remainder of the road.” 

Naomi dismounted, and Mahlah took her 
place, and the three started again on their jour- 
ney. After entering Jerusalem by the Bethle- 
hem gate, and threading their way through the 
busy market held at that place, Ezekiel turned 
off in one direction with the ass to care for it, 
leaving his wife and sister to go about the city 
alone. Being accustomed to this, they felt no 
timidity in so doing. After passing through 
the streets of the lower town, and crossing the 
bridge over the valley to Mount Moriah, they 
went on toward the eastern side of the temple, 
where they expected to go through the Golden 
gate into the court of the women. Everywhere 
the streets were thronged with people, some 


54 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


going to the temple, and some sellers of differ- 
ent wares. As they came near the holy build- 
ing, they saw that all the approaches to it 
were crowded with men, women, and children. 
Drawing their veils closer about their faces, 
Mahlah and Naomi walked on in the direction 
in which they saw the greater number going. 

“Surely,” Mahlah said, ‘‘this road will lead 
us to him whom we seek ; yet, to be certain, I 
shall inquire of some one, lest we take too 
many steps by going out of our way.” 

Turning to a passer-by, she asked, “Whither 
go so many people?” 

The woman inquired of drew aside her veil, 
as if to see more clearly what manner of person 
was addressing her, and in astonished tones 
answered: “Knowest thou not that they go to 
hear the Nazarene? He hath driven the sell- 
ers of animals and doves out of the court of 
the heathen. Thou knowest these changers of 
money had stalls on either side of the eastern 
gate. He hath overturned their tables, and 
driven them also thence.” 

“ It was desecration to the house of our God 
that they should be there,” said Mahlah. 

“Yea, he saith somewhat like that. I mar- 
vel, though, that he, a stranger from Galilee, 
assumeth the authority to drive them thence.” 


55 


or^ From Bethlehein to Calvary, 

“That is true, their presence there hath been 
sanctioned by the priests; Jesus certainly hath 
some power in him, unknown to people, else he 
could not have expelled them ; they would have 
Rebelled; dost thou remember Zechariah hath 
said, when the Messiah cometh, ‘The trader 
shall no more be in the house of Jehovah’ ? ” 

“ I know not how it is, but Jesus is in the 
temple now talking to the people.” So saying, 
the woman turned to pursue her way. 

“ Go thou in peace,” said Mahlah, as she and 
Naomi passed on. 

“The Nazarene!” exclaimed Naomi, “oh 
Mahlah, we are not far from him now.” 

Quickening their pace, they soon joined the 
crowd which surrounded Jesus. 

“Mahlah,” said Naomi, “let ns strive to get 
nearer this Jesus, I like not to tarry so far from 
him ; one heareth not all his words.” 

Slowly they made their way through the 
throng, until they stood close to the speaker. 

The priests were angry at what Jesus had 
done, they could take no measures against him, 
for he was in the right, but they asked of him 
“ a sign ” whereby they would know if he had 
acted under divine sanction. When Mahlah 
and Naomi had succeeded in reaching a posi- 
tion near to him they heard him reply to the 


56 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


priests: “Destroy this temple, and in three 
days I will raise it up.” 

“What meaneth he?” whispered Naomi to 
Mahlah, “this beautiful temple, its roofs of 
gold and walls of marble, that was so long in 
building, the glory of Jehovah and our pride; 
how could he rear it again in three days ? ” 

“ I think not that his words mean the temple 
we are in ; but list, he is speaking again.” 

The last hour of the day of their departure 
was drawing to a close when Ezekiel, Mahlah, 
and Naomi neared Bethlehem; each day of 
their stay in J erusalem had been fraught with 
interest and pleasure to them, they had seen 
and heard him whom they had longed to see 
and hear, their hearts and minds were so full 
that they had been satisfied to journey home in 
comparative quietude. 

“Ezekiel,” said Naomi, “what believest thou 
Jesus meant when he spoke of destroying the 
temple?” 

“Naomi, all the great mass of people in Jeru- 
salem had gone there to the Passover ; the sac- 
rifices and all concerning the feast are part of 
the temple services, they all belong to it, and 
all of these sacrifices pointed to the Messiah 
who was to come. Pointed, I say, for now, 
Naomi, I doubt not he hath come, and he who 


57 


or^ From Bethlehem to Calvary, 

cleansed the temple had a right to do so, for he 
is none other than the Messiah; all the old 
ceremonial law, which we Israelites so much 
revere, hath culminated in him and he will do 
away with the old sacrificial service in the tem- 
ple and he, himself, is to be our Temple ; what 
higher one could we wish for than the Son of 
God? our souls will go out to him to serve 
him ; for ‘ his banner over us will be love 

Naomi and Mahlah were silent. As they 
passed within the walls of the town, Mahlah 
said: “We are almost home; tell me, Naomi, 
what thou thinkest of him? ” 

No explanation as to whom she referred was 
necessary, Naomi knew full well. 

“Oh! Mahlah,” she answered, “I feel as 
though I could go up to him and, with child- 
like confidence, place my hand in his and say ; 
Master, lead me withersoever thou wilt.” 


CHAPTEK VIL 


T he long, hot days of summer, as well as 
the dreamy, mellow days of autumn, 
passed away while Jesus was going up and 
down Judea. He left Jerusalem after the 
Passover, his few disciples accompanying him, 
and had been teaching and preaching to the 
crowds which grew larger as the days went on. 
But, to avoid the hostility to him, which his 
success in drawing the people about him would 
be likely to develop, he determined to go to his 
old home, Galilee. Ezekiel had several times 
gone to hear him while in Judea, but each 
^time, upon his return home, he deplored the 
fact that the people would not believe that 
Jesus was the Messiah, although they flocked 
to see him perform miracles. 

The farmers were sowing wheat in the fields 
when Jesus left Judea in the early morning to 
walk through Samaria to Galilee. By noon he 
and his disciples had reached Sychar. One 
and one-half miles from the town was Jacob’s 
well, a spot dear to the sons of Israel. Stop- 
ping here to rest beneath the spreading trees, 
with an enchanting landscape before his eyes, 
58 


59 


trom Bethlehem to Calvary. 

he sent his disciples into the town to purchase 
food. While they were absent, Jesus saw a 
woman approaching with her jar upon her 
head, and in her hand a cord by which to 
lower the jar into the well. 

When she had’ filled the jar, Jesus said to 
her, “Give me to drink.” 

“ How is it that thou, a Jew,” she answered, 
“ askest drink of me, which am a woman of Sa- 
maria ? ” 

Jesus then told her that he had “living wa- 
ter,” and, if she had known of that, she would 
have asked the drink of him 

The woman did not understand him. How 
could he draw the water? The well was deep, 
and he had nothing to draw it with. 

“From whence,” she inquired, “hast thou 
this living water? Art thou greater than our 
father Jacob, which gave us the well, and 
drank thereof himself, and his children and his 
cattle?” 

Jesus answered her, “Whosoever drinketh 
of this water shall thirst again ; but whosoever 
drinketh of the water that I shall give him 
shall never thirst; but the water that I shall 
give him shall be in him a well of water spring- 
ing up into everlasting life.” 

The woman listened, but did not yet under- 


60 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem; 


stand. It would be a boon to her to possess 
such water; and she said to him: “Sir, give 
me this water, that I thirst not, neither come 
hither to draw.” 

The way in which Jesus answered her showed 
that he knew all of her past life. 

“Sir,” exclaimed the astonished woman, “I 
perceive that thou art a prophet.” 

Then she spoke of the Samaritan belief that 
Gerizim is the one place to worship, but that 
the Jews contend in Jerusalem is the only spot 
to worship God. 

Jesus replied that the time was not far dis- 
tant when the worship of God would be con- 
fined to neither Gerizim nor Jerusalem. At 
Gerizim they knew not the true God, but the 
Jews knew him, and expected salvation to 
come to them through the Messiah; but all 
true worshippers, whoever or wherever they 
be, irrespective of nation or place, must wor- 
ship the Father in spirit and in truth ; not the 
old outward show of worship, but an obedient, 
loving devotion to him from their hearts. 

To this the woman replied: “I know that 
Messiah cometh, which is called Christ : when 
he is come, he will tell us ail things.” 

Before this, Jesus had not openly declared 
that he was the Messiah ; but now the startled 





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or^ From Bethlehem to Calvary. 61 

woman heard him^^say, “I that speak unto thee 
am he.” 

Forgetting, in her surprise and haste, the jar 
of water, she went into the city, and accosted 
every one whom she met with the exclamation, 
“ Come, see a man which told me all things that 
ever I did: is not this the Christ?” 

Meanwhile, Jesus’ disciples returned with 
the food, and were astonished to see him talk- 
ing with the woman. After her departure, they 
entreated him to partake of the provision they 
had brought. His reply to them was, “ I have 
meat to eat that ye know not of.” 

Seeing the amazement on their faces at his 
reply, he said : “ My meat is to do the will of 
him that sent me, and to finish his work.” 

To obey rightly the commands of God, and 
to be the fulfillment of prophecy for man’s re- 
demption, was the first consideration with him. 
It held place in his mind over and above any 
desire for things pertaining to bodily nourish- 
ment. 

The people who came with the woman to see 
Jesus, when she returned to him, “besought 
him to tarry with them,” and for two days he 
remained in their city, teaching and preaching 
to them. Many believed on him there, and said 
to the woman: “Now we believe, not because 


62 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


of thy saying : for we have heard him our- 
selves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, 
the Saviour of the world.” 

Seeing how anxious his hearers were to know 
the truth, Jesus, directing his disciples’ atten- 
tion to it, told them that the people were as 
ready to be reaped for the heavenly garner as 
the fields before them would shortly be, to be 
reaped by the earthly husbandman. ‘‘One 
soweth,” he said, “ and another reapeth. I 
sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no 
labor: other men labored, and ye are entered 
into their labors.” 

He had sown the seed ; they were to be the 
reapers. 


CHAPTEK VIIL 


‘‘ "A yf^OTHEK,” said Malilah, one day after 

J-VJL she had returned home from her daily 
ministrations among the sick and needy, “thou 
wilt be sorry, I know, to hear that Deborah 
hath lost her sight.” 

“Truly I am, daughter, how doth she bear 
it?” 

“Oh! mother, that is the pitiful side of it; 
thou knowest that the Talmud saith, ‘ The blind 
are as the dead’; she feareth to be accounted 
as such.” 

“ I was accustomed to so look on them, but 
since this Jesus, Ezekiel tells us of, openeth the 
eyes that see not and teacheth that blindness 
is not a punishment for sin, I cast aside both 
the Talmud view of it and that of those of our 
people who deem it sin’s heritage, and hold to 
his more merciful belief.” 

“And then, mother, life is so sweet to a girl 
of fourteen ; the sky is so fair ; the trees are so 
green ; everything is so inviting, that it is hard 
to be forever shut in from all these beautiful 
things.” 

“ Hard ? my daughter ; is it thus this Jesus 
63 


64 Ezekiel of Bethlehem; 

would speak of trials from the hand of our 
God?” 

“ Nay, mother, forgive me, I meant not that 
I called it so ; but to one of Deborah’s years it 
is naught else.” 

“ Thou must teach her, my Mahlah, to think 
of it otherwise; then this affliction, which is 
now so grievous to her, will be lighter and she 
will become reconciled ; yea, even cheerful and 
happy again.” 

It will not be an easy thing to perform what 
thou sayest, mother; there is so little a blind 
person can do, and thou knowest how much 
the work of the hands lightens the ills of the 
mind.” 

“ There will be something given her to do ; 
to eacli one of us our God, blessed be his name! 
hath assigned a certain task, be the allotment 
small or great, it is ours to do.” 

Deborah’s parents were dead, she had been 
left when three years old in charge of an aunt 
and uncle, who had taken good care of her, 
notwithstanding they had a family of their own 
and only scanty means of support. Now that 
she had grown old enough to think of such 
things, she saw and realized that she had been 
an additional one beside their own children, 
whom they had provided for, and she often 


or. From Bethlehem to Calvary. 65 

pictured to herself how she would work and 
strive to repay some, at least, of the kindness 
she had always received from them ; but this 
dreadful blindness having come upon her, what 
could she do ? All her hopes of future useful- 
ness were blasted, instead of being a comfort 
to them, she would be a burden, shut up within 
herself, the light of day barred out, all would 
be gloom and the blackness of night. 

While Mahlah was endeavoring to reconcile 
Deborah to her situation, Ezekiel heard that 
Jesus had left Samaria and gone to Cana. So 
many Galileans had attended the Passover at 
Jerusalem and had seen Jesus there and the 
works he did, and had borne home tidings of 
his miracles in Judea that the people were glad 
to welcome him back, and the news of his arrival 
was soon carried from place to place. 

At Capernaum, twenty miles away from Cana, 
sickness and sorrow were in the wealthy home 
of one of the high officers of the court of Anti- 
pas, the Tetrarch. What mattered it to the in- 
mates of the palace, that they were surrounded 
by all the evidences of luxury and refinement, 
that the air in the court-yard was teeming with 
the delightful fragrance of roses and lilies, that 
fiower-decked vines clung to the walls, when 
from a darkened chamber within the palace, 
5 


66 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


ever and anon, arose the plaintive cry: ‘‘O 
mother, mother, my head ! my head ! ” 

“Yea, little one, thy mother knoweth that it 
acheth sadly,” she replied, placing her soft, cool 
hand upon his brow. 

“ Keep thy hand there, mother, it doeth more 
good than all the mixtures the physician hath 
given me.” 

“ Thy mixtures were not pleasant ones to 
take I know, yet we thought they would drive 
the fever from thee.” 

“They did not, mother; for, oh, my head! 
my head! it groweth worse; why cometh not 
my father? ” sobbed the child. 

“ He hath gone, dear child, to Cana ; we heard 
this morning that the Healer Jesus hath arrived 
there, thou knowest the many sick ones whom 
he hath restored to health, and thy father hath 
gone to fetch him to thy bedside.” 

“ When will he come ? ” 

“I know not, alas! when one waiteth in sor- 
row, the hours drag by on leaden feet.” 

So they talked on; the almost despairing 
mother seeking to soothe her suffering son, and 
he, ever and anon, sobbing out: “My head! 
my head ! ” 

Meanwhile the father made all possible haste 
to Cana, though a Roman officer, he doubted 


or^ From Bethlehem to Calvary. C7 

not that Jesus had the power and would be 
willing to cure his boy ; had he not seen many 
others who had been similarly blessed by 
the great physician? and how could he resist 
answering his appeal when his sick boy was the 
darling of his heart ? 

Cana reached, Jesus was soon found. Fall- 
ing before him, the nobleman implored him to 
go with him and cure the son who was so dear 
to him. 

“Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will 
not believe,” was Jesus answer to the anxious 
father’s importunities. 

“Signs and wonders!” Nay, the father 
needed them not ; only the great Healer’s pre- 
sence, only his gentle touch and life-giving 
words, were all he sought. 

“Sir,” he beseechingly cried, “come down 
ere my child die.” 

Pitying the father and appreciating his faith 
in him, Jesus said, “ Go thy way ; thy son liveth.” 

Believing the words he had just heard, the 
no longer anxious father left Cana to return to 
Capernaum, which place he did not reach until 
the following day. Wending his way home- 
ward, his thoughts alternating between the 
great Healer in Cana, his words to him there, 
and his sick boy at Capernaum, he espied com- 


68 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


ing toward him a party of men, whom he dis- 
covered, upon their nearer approach, to be 
some of his own servants. For a moment his 
heart sank within him. Could he have been 
deceived about his boy? Was he already 
dead? Nay, nay, that cannot be; these men 
do not look as do they who bear evil tidings. 
When within speaking-distance of their mas- 
ter, the servants apprised him of the joyful 
news they had been sent to communicate. His 
little son was convalescent! 

“When did he begin to amend?” was the 
first question of the happy father. 

“Yesterday,” one replied, “at the seventh 
hour the fever left him.” 

That was the exact time at which Jesus said 
to him, “Thy son liveth.” Now fully convinced 
of Jesus’ miraculous power, he recognized in 
him something more than human ; he con- 
cluded that he must be one sent from God; 
and from thenceforth he and his whole house 
believed on him. 

After Jesus came to Cana, his disciples left 
him for a time, going to the Sea of Galilee to 
follow their old occupation of fishing. He then 
went to Nazareth, where he lived quietly with 
his mother and her family. While there, intel- 
ligence came to him that Herod Antipas had 


69 


or^ From Bethlehem to Calvary. 

thrown the desert preacher, John the Baptist, 
into the dungeons of Machserus, because John 
reproved him for his wicked manner of living ; 
and the whole country was in an uproar about 
it. When Jesus heard this, he left Nazareth, 
and went to Capernaum to dwell. 

It had now been some time since Ezekiel 
had seen Jesus, and he became desirous to go 
to Galilee. It did not take him long to pre- 
pare for his journey. One morning, as faint 
pencillings of light about the neighboring hill- 
tops bespoke the early dawn, he arose, and, 
after attending to his devotions and partaking 
of his meal, set out, staff in hand, upon his long 
walk. By starting early he would avoid the 
heat, as he expected to rest in some retired 
spot during the hours of midday. Light of 
heart and in perfect health, he was abundantly 
able for the pilgrimage. He had passed over 
the same road some time before, when he went 
to see John the Baptist. The way would not 
be wearisome. All the country through which 
he would journey was sacred to him, because 
of the great deeds done there by the ancient 
heroes of his people. Jerusalem, Mizpah, Ha- 
mah, Bethel, the valley of Baca, Gilgal, Shiloh, 
all would speak to him of the past. Through 
Samaria he would move with hurried steps, as 


70 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem; 


though fearful of leaving his footprints upon 
the hated soil. Later on he would see Jacob’s 
well, and then proceed through Dothan, Engan- 
nim, and finally Galilee the beautiful, the land 
of figs, olives, wheat, and wine, with its two 
hundred and four villages, as Josephus tells us, 
crowded into a space twenty-five miles from 
north to south, and twenty-seven miles from 
east to west. 

Ezekiel had intended going to Cana, as Jesus 
was there when he last heard of him ; but, as 
he advanced through Galilee, he found that 
Jesus had left Cana for Capernaum, and thither 
he directed his steps. 

It was toward the close of the third day that 
he came in sight of the town, which lay upon 
the upper part of the western shore of the Sea 
of Galilee, where boats of the fisher-folk and 
others for merchandise were fioating upon the 
gleaming waters. Upon “the highway to the 
sea,” which ran through the town, were foot- 
travellers and caravans, while the streets were 
thronged with Hebrews and Gentiles intent 
upon the busy affairs of life. It was a charm- 
ing picture, but Ezekiel did not linger long to 
enjoy it. Glancing toward the sky, he saw that 
the sun was dipping into the western horizon ; 
and, as the next day would be the Sabbath, and 


71 


or^ From Bethlehem to Calvary. 

it would commence with the sunset, he realized 
the necessity for quickening his steps so as to 
reach the town before the holy day began. 

After his arrival in Capernaum, he listened 
with pleasure to his host’s account of the move- 
ments of Jesus. Among other things, he was 
told that, as Jesus was walking that morning 
beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two empty 
boats lying on the beach. The fishermen to 
whom they belonged were upon the shore, 
mending and washing their nets. As was al- 
ways the case, crowds of eager persons were 
following Jesus. He entered one of the boats, 
which belonged to Simon Peter and Andrew, 
two of his disciples, and from it spoke to the 
people. After his discourse was ended, he said 
to Simon, ‘‘Launch out into the deep, and let 
down your nets for a draught.” 

“Master,” said Simon, “we have toiled all 
the night, and have taken nothing; neverthe- 
less, at thy word I will let down the net,” which 
he lowered over the side of the boat into the 
sea. In a moment it was filled with such a 
large number of fishes that the meshes of the 
net were broken. Then Simon and Andrew sig- 
nalled James and John to come to their aid. 
They immediately entered the other boat, which 
belonged to their father, Zebedee and them- 


72 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


selves, and rowed np to Simon’s boat. The 
draught of fishes was so great that both boats 
were filled with them, and began sinking. All 
on board were astonished, and Simon Peter 
fell on his knees at Jesus’ feet, and exclaimed: 
“ Depart from me ; for I am a sinful man, O 
Lord!” 

“Fear not,” Jesus said to him; “from hence- 
forth thou shalt catch men.” 

“Where hath Jesus gone now? ” Ezekiel in- 
quired. 

“He went with Peter and Andrew to their 
house, which is his home while he is in Caper- 
naum.” 

About the time Ezekiel’s host was talking to 
him, Jesus was going, as he frequently did, to 
a retired place, outside of the town, to spend 
the night in prayer and meditation. 

Upon Sabbath morning Ezekiel was ready to 
attend the synagogue at the hour for service. 
Arriving there he took off his sandals, bound 
the little inch-square parchment-box upon his 
forehead, by its leathern thongs, and the other 
phylactery upon his left arm opposite his heart, 
the thongs of the latter he wound about his arm 
seven times and three times about his middle 
finger ; he was now prepared to take part in the 
morning services. 














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73 


or. From Bethlehem to Calvary. 

After the prayers and the law and the pro- 
phets had been read and all the congregation 
standing had silently offered a petition to God, 
Ezekiel saw the one he sought, Jesus of Naza- 
reth, who began addressing the people. 

Among the worshippers was a man with an 
‘‘unclean spirit,” and while Jesus was speaking 
the spirit cried out : “ Let us alone ; what have 
we to do with thee thou Jesus of Nazareth? 
art thou come to destroy us ? I know thee who 
thou art, the Holy One of God.” 

Jesus, turning to the man, said to the spirit: 
“Hold thy peace and come out of him.” 

The unclean spirit was subdued and instantly 
came out of the man. 

Ezekiel looked on in astonishment. He must 
be more than man, “he thought,” the very devils 
concede his divinity and dare not do otherwise 
than obey him. 

When the congregation was dismissed, so 
eager was Ezekiel to see and hear more, that 
he followed Jesus, who, taking James and John 
with him, accompanied Simon Peter and An- 
drew to their home, where they exerted their 
utmost efforts to do honor to their Master. 

Peter’s wife’s mother, who was living with 
them, was sick; of which fact they informed 
Jesus and besought him to cure her. When 


74 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


brought into her presence, Jesus took her by 
the hand, and instantly the fever left her, and 
she arose and, with a thankful heart, “minis- 
tered unto them.” 

Ezekiel left the house with the other stran- 
gers, who were going to their dijfferent places of 
abode; as each went his way, he told of the 
miraculous cures he had just witnessed. Thus 
the fame of Jesus as a great physician was so 
much noised abroad that toward eventide the 
whole city was excited, and at sunset, at which 
time the Sabbath was ended, numerous groups, 
bearing their sick relatives and friends, thronged 
the way to Peter’s house. 

Ezekiel stood near by, watching the pallid 
faces and the eagerness of their bearers. “ Is 
this Jesus able to give health to all these,” was 
the thought uppermost in his mind. While he 
thus surmised, he saw Jesus come forth, and as 
he put his hand on each one of the sufferers, 
behold ! to him so touched, healing came. Even 
devils came out of many, crying, “ Thou art 
Christ, the Son of God,” but as they did so, 
Ezekiel heard Jesus rebuke them and bid them 
“ Hold their peace.” Ezekiel watched the crowd 
of rejoicing people disperse. “Only a little 
while ago,” he observed to one standing beside 
him, “there was sadness, suffering, pain, and 


or, From, Bethlehem to Calvary. 75 

despair among those before us, and now all 
that is ended — joy ancL thankfulness alone are 
here — the evening shadows are closing in 
around Capernaum, and there is not an ailing 
person within its bounds and all brought about 
by a touch! oh, happy Capernaum, thou givest 
shelter to-night to the Son of God! for he must 
be our Messiah — how else could he bring upon 
Capernaum such a blessing ! ” 


CHAPTEE IX. 



ETEE the occurrences narrated in the 


-jLJl. last chapter, a multitude of people, 
among whom was Ezekiel, accompanied Jesus 
as he went through the towns and villages of 
all the surrounding country. As they one day 
journeyed, a man afflicted with that terrible 
disease, the leprosy, came and threw himself 
at the feet of Jesus, crying, “Lord, if thou wilt, 
thou canst make me clean ! ” 

Ezekiel looked on, wondering how the 
wretched outcast dared to approach Jesus ; 
and as he heard the words, “I will; be thou 
clean,” and saw the man restored to health, he 
thought : “ He hath more than pity, yea, it must 
be love, for suffering humanity. I marvel not 
that his fame as the great Healer hath gone 
abroad, for love appeareth in his every word 
and action.” 

When Jesus returned to Simon’s house in 
Capernaum, while speaking to a vast concourse 
of persons, both inside and out of the building, 
four men brought to him upon a bed a para- 
lytic friend of theirs. Although the crowd was 
large, they did not despair of getting near Jesus. 


76 


77 


l<vom Bethlehem to Calvary. 

They were determined to crave the great Heal- 
er’s aid for their friend. Ezekiel gazed on them 
as, with their burden, they slowly ascended the 
steps at the side of the house (they were so 
built in the East), and laid their friend down 
upon the roof which covered the place where 
Jesus stood. They then removed a part of the 
roof, and as carefully as they could, lowered 
the sick man down before him. Jesus, who 
can read all hearts, saw by the appealing look 
in the man’s eyes as he cast them up to him, 
that it was more than bodily healing which he 
desired, and said: “Man, thy sins are forgiven 
thee!” 

These words fell strangely upon some of his 
hearers. They believed that God only could 
forgive sins. Was this Jesus arrogating to 
himself one of the prerogatives of Jehovah? 
Thus they muttered their thoughts one to an- 
other, but to Ezekiel there was nothing strange 
about it. The light had dawned upon his mind, 
and he believed that in Jesus he saw the Mes- 
siah, the Son of God. Who, then, had more 
capability to forgive sins? 

Jesus, seeing the dissatisfaction in the crowd, 
inquired: “Whether is it easier to say. Thy 
sins be forgiven thee? or to say, Eise up, and 
walk ? But that ye may know that the Son of 


78 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem; 

man hath power upon earth to forgive sins,” 
turning to the paralytic, he said, “I say unto 
thee. Arise, and take up thy couch, and go 
unto thine house.” 

Immediately the invalid arose, took up his 
bed, and bore it home upon his shoulders, glo- 
rifying and praising God all the way. 

Notwithstanding the astonishment of the 
rabbis and scribes, who had been among the 
first to murmur, they were not silenced; but, 
as the crowd which surrounded Jesus was so 
ardent in his favor, they saw that they could 
do nothing openly, but they treasured up 
against him their opinion of what they con- 
strued to be his blasphemy, and determined to 
bide their time to punish him for it. 

After the miracle, when Jesus quietly with- 
drew, Ezekiel left with the crowd for his tem- 
porary home in Capernaum. 

At the harbor of the city stood a booth, in 
which Matthew, an Israelite, who belonged to 
the tribe of Levi, sat to collect customs upon 
all merchandise shipped into or from Caper- 
naum, as that city lay between the dominions 
of Philip and those of Antipas. Matthew had 
often listened to Jesus as he spoke to the mul- 
titudes which gathered from time to time on 
the beach. It was not long after Jesus had 


79 


or, troin Bethlehem to Calvary. 

healed the paralytic that he passed Matthew, 
and said to him, “Follow me.” Matthew left 
his place of business, and followed him. So 
delighted was he that Jesus had called him to 
be one of his disciples, that he made a feast in 
his honor, and invited all his friends to it. Af- 
ter the supper at Matthew’s house, Jesus spent 
the silent watches of the night in prayer, in 
some quiet spot amid the neighboring hills. 

“Dost thou not think it singular,” said one 
of Ezekiel’s acquaintances to him, “that such 
a great prophet and teacher as this Jesus is 
goeth to the house of a publican, and eateth 
with sinners?’"’ 

“He teacheth in a different manner from 
what we have been taught. He feareth not 
contact with the common people ; they can de- 
file him not. He holdeth himself aloof from 
non^. It is the sinners, he saith, that he came 
to call to repentance, not the righteous,” an- 
swered Ezekiel. 

“He claimeth the Messiahship. How ex- 
pecteth he to found a new kingdom with such 
adherents as publicans and sinners?” 

“Hast thou, my friend, seen his miracles 
and heard his persuasive voice, and yet be- 
lievest thou not that he is the Messiah; one 
sent from God to found a ‘new kingdom’ in 


80 Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

our hearts, not to take from the Caesar his 
throne? ” 

‘‘How can that be?” 

“ He talketh not of politics ; his whole speech 
is of cleansing the heart and making it accept- 
able to God.” 

“Doth not the law teach that?” 

“Yea, but the law menaceth and command- 
eth us. Our worship hath become one of 
naught else than rites and ceremonies. I 
think, my friend, it cometh not now from the 
heart as it did in the days of our fathers, Abra- 
ham, Isaac, and Jacob.” 

“The law showeth us our duty to Jehovah.” 

“ ‘Duty’ is a harsh word, my friend. Jesus 
teacheth that ’tis love^ not duty, which maketh 
us to worship God.” 

The next morning Ezekiel heard that Jesus 
had selected six more men to be his disciples. 
Simon Peter and Andrew, his brother; James 
and John, the sons of Zebede; Philip of Beth- 
saida, and Nathanael from Cana, had been with 
him for some time ; but now Matthew the pub- 
lican, whose feast he attended the day previ- 
ous, James the little, and Jude, Thomas, Si- 
mon the zealot, and Judas Iscariot, were called 
to be among his chosen followers, those to 
whom, at his death, he would leave the fur- 


or^ From Bethlehem to Calvary. 81 

tlieriug of the “new kingdom.” All were from 
Galilee, except Judas Iscariot, whose home was 
in Judea. 

Hearing that Jesus had gone into the coun- 
try, with his disciples, Ezekiel hastened after 
him with many others who were going in the 
same direction. A short distance below Caper- 
naum stands the “ Homs of Hattin,” twin peaks, 
that, like sentinels, guard the mouth of the deep 
gorge which opens into the cliffs of Arbela, they 
rise sixty feet from the plain ; but part way be- 
tween the plain and the summit is a flat, broad 
space, which Ezekiel saw, as he approached it, 
was covered with a multitude of people; all 
ages, all stations were represented. Jesus, who 
had been higher up on the mountain, talking to 
his disciples, saw the crowd on the level place 
awaiting him, and coming down to them sat 
upo^a a slight elevation, with his disciples and 
the people at his feet. Taking his place along 
with the crowd, Ezekiel listened with wrapt at- 
tention to the beautiful words which fell from 
his lips: “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for 
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are 
they that mourn : for they shall be comforted. 
Blessed are the meek : for they shall inherit the 
earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and 
thirst after righteousness: for they shall be 
6 


82 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


filled. Blessed are the merciful : for they shall 
obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart : 
for they shall see God. Blessed are the peace- 
makers : for they shall be called the children of 
God. Blessed are they which are persecuted 
for righteousness’ sake : for theirs is the king- 
dom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men 
shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall 
say all manner of evil against you falsely, for 
my sake. Bejoice, and be exceeding glad : for 
great is your reward in heaven : for so perse- 
cuted they the prophets, which were before 
you.” 

Jesus then compared his disciples to salt, a 
thing so necessary to life and health, and urged 
them to be as a light which throws its bright- 
ness all about, “ That men may see your good 
w'orks and glorify your Father, which is in 
heaven.” 

Presently he heard the words : “ Think not 
that I am come to destroy the law, or the pro- 
phets : I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. 
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth 
pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass 
from the law till all be fulfilled.” Memory car- 
ried Ezekiel back over the years of the past, 
and one by one came before him the prophe- 
cies which had been accomplished long before. 


83 


or^ From Bethlehem to Calvary, 

all but those about the Messiah; was not this 
great Teacher before him the one the holy men 
of old pointed to ; had he not just heard him de- 
clare, “ I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” 

Again his attention was arrested by the sound 
of Jesus’ voice, showing that there was a deeper 
meaning in some of the conditions of the Mosaic 
law than the terms they were couched in seemed 
to express. Then he explained the law of love : 

Love your enemies,” he said, “ that ye may be 
the children of your Father in heaven.” He 
cautioned them about giving alms that ‘‘ they 
might have glory of men,” and praying, as do 
the hypocrites, that ‘Hhey may be seen of men.” 
Then he uttered that sublime invocation, that 
ever since, down through the ages, has been the 
petition of all believers, the Lord’s prayer. 

So, on through the long hours Ezekiel lis- 
tened, they did not seem long to him ; no sense 
of hunger or weariness troubled him; he was 
so much absorbed in the teachings of Jesus, 
that all else was blotted from his mind ; a new 
world appeared to be opening up ; the old dis- 
pensation, so long the cherished guide of his 
life, something as sacred almost as Jehovah 
himself, was being set aside ; turned back, as it 
were, into the past; and in its stead this Jesus, 
the Messiah, taught that righteousness and love 


84 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


were the foundations of his “new kingdom,” 
and that belief on him as the Son of God, and 
repentance, were the means whereby one might 
enter the kingdom of heaven. 

As the sermon was finished and Jesus came 
down from the mountain, Ezekiel turned away 
with regret, that he could not remain longer in 
Capernaum, to hear more of the wonderful new 
doctrine, but he knew that on the morrow he 
must return to Bethlehem to make preparations 
for the Feast of the Passover, as the time for 
its celebration was not many days distant. 


CHAPTEK X. 


I T was the fourth day afterward that Ezekiel 
reached Jerusalem. Though foot-sore and 
weary, he pushed on toward Bethlehem. How 
could he stay in the holy city to rest when his 
home was only six miles away? He craved 
the loving welcome he was confident would be 
his. He almost felt guilty when he reflected 
that he had been absent from his dear ones so 
many days, and during all that time he had so 
seldom thought about them. 

As the sun went down behind the western 
hills, he entered the town. Oh! how pleasant 
it was to be at home once more I After being 
refreshed by a short rest and his evening meal, 
father, mother, wife, sister, and little ones clus- 
tered about him while he gave a detailed ac- 
count of what he had seen and heard. 

“My father,” he said, “would that thou 
couldst have been with me 1 Truly, this Jesus 
of Nazareth is an unrivaled man. There is a 
wondrous charm, not only in what he says, but 
in his manner as well. As one listeneth, one 
feeleth as if one wanted to get closer, closer 
to him.” 


85 


86 Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

“How speaketli he, my son? Aught of the 
prophets?” 

“Yea. ‘I came not to destroy the law nor 
the prophets,’ he saith, ‘but to fulfill.’ He 
thinketh not of the law as do the rabbis. He 
made plain to us the difference betwixt the law 
and the ‘new kingdom’ of God. His first 
words of a long discourse were words of bless- 
ing. It was as though he called down a bene- 
diction upon our heads as we sat under the blue 
sky, waiting to catch each word as it fell from 
his lips. He spake beautifully against our tak- 
ing excessive care for the things of this life. 
The little birds were flying overhead. Looking 
up, he said, ‘Behold the fowls of the air; for 
they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather 
into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth 
them.’ Then, casting his eyes over the multi- 
tude, he continued, ‘Are ye not much better 
than they ? ’ ” 

“Ah! my son, it was well spoken. Selfish- 
ness generateth excessive care.” 

“My husband, methinketh distrust of God is 
a failing of the over-anxious. The happiest 
persons on earth, I verily believe, are those 
who live above the things of this world; who 
cast their burdens upon a God who hath pro- 
mised to care for them.” 


87 


or, From Bethlehem to Calvary. 

“Thou meanest not, mother,” spoke Mahlah, 
“that we should be indifferent to our duties 
here?” 

“ Nay, not indifferent to nor neglectful of the 
things given us to do; that should never be; 
neither should we be so wrapped up in them 
that we lose sight of the giver of them.” 

“Methinketh, mother, while one is in the 
world, it would not be an easy task to live 
above the things of the world.” 

“Nay, my Mahlah, it is not impossible for 
one to trust so entirely in the God of our fa- 
thers as to be content to leave all things in his 
hands.” 

“Aye, mother, according to the teaching that 
I heard, thou judgest rightly. Jesus said, ‘O 
ye of little faith,’ because we so seldom trust 
to our fathers’ God for what is necessary for 
our welfare. He, moreover, told us that God 
knoweth the things we have need of, and that, 
if we earnestly seek first the kingdom of God, 
and with our hearts and lives conform to the 
divine law, all things whatsoever are good for 
us shall be ours.” • 

“None of us hath faith enough, my son,” 
spoke the father. 

“Yea, father, thou speakest truly. I fear 
that, as a nation and as individuals, we are 


88 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


wanting. After all that Jehovah hath done for 
us, we doubt him still; doubt, too, when we 
see so many of the prophecies concerning the 
Messiah fulfilled.” 

No words were spoken for several moments; 
then Ezekiel said: “My father, Jesus saith that 
all the world are children of God ; that God is 
the Father, not of us Israelites only, but of all 
peoples.” 

“That is new doctrine; it never hath been 
preached before. He, an Israelite, to speak in 
such manner! When our Messiah cometh, he 
will raise Israel above all nations. How can 
this Nazarene claim to be he ? ” 

“Nay, think not so harshly of him, father. 
The burden of his counsels is to show us the 
way to the life hereafter; to teach us so to live 
that we may be not only a blessing to all about 
us, but fitted day by day to enjoy perfectly our 
home in the kingdom of God.” 

“How could he do this?” 

“ By love. He saith that we are to love even 
our enemies, to bless them that curse us, to do 
good to them that hate us, and to pray for them 
which despitefully use us and persecute us; 
that we may be the children of our Father 
which is in heaven, who requireth no longer 
sacrifices, and washings, and fasts. All that he 


0 /*, From Bethlehein to Calvary. 89 

seeketh now is the hearts of his children; and, 
oh ! my father, when one witnesseth, as I have 
done, the beautiful life of self-abnegation of 
Jesus, one cannot fail to be convinced that he 
is our Messiah ; and one’s soul yearns for some- 
thing higher than we can find in either the law 
or the ceremonies.” Turning toward his mo- 
ther, he continued: “Oh! mother, thou shouldst 
have heard the prayer this Jesus taught us, so 
different it is from those you taught me at your 
knee. Methought, as I listened, that I was a 
poor, sinful, needy child beseeching from a 
bountiful parent a sufficiency for my daily re- 
quirements. No thought of a refusal came to 
me. I had but to ask, and he would grant.” 

“ Prayer, my son, should ascend to God from 
hearts that have love to him. We have sadly 
degenerated in our day, I fear. Too often the 
heart is not the main-spring of the words ex- 
pressed; they are mere empty recitals.” 

“This great Teacher’s lessons, mother, are 
full of love; his heart overfloweth with com- 
passion toward all mankind; and furthermore, 
he requireth that all who would follow him 
must give unto him the love and devotion of 
their lives, and, taking him for their pattern, 
strive to walk humbly, peaceably, and lovingly 
toward all, whether Hebrew or Gentile.” 


90 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


“He asketh much, considering he is but a 
Galilean,” said the father. 

“He speaketh as doth a king to his subjects, 
and well he may. In what manner would it 
be more fitting for the Messiah to address his 
hearers? He bade us have a care in which 
road we would henceforth walk, and besought 
us to ‘ enter in at the strait gate,’ and to walk in 
‘the narrow way which leadeth to life eternal.’ ” 
“ Mayhap he foreseeth that false teachers will 
arise to pervert the people’s ideas. Such have 
arisen before this, and, I doubt not, such like 
will occur again,” said the mother. 

“He himself will be the judge of all our ac- 
tions, and he said: ‘Not every one that saith 
unto me. Lord, Lord, shall enter into the king- 
dom of heaven : but he that doeth the will of 
my Father which is in heaven.” 


CHAPTER XL 


“ Ij EZEKIEL,” said his neighbor Jotham to 

JLLi him, as they met, each being on his way 
to his plot of ground, which he had under culti- 
vation, outside the walls of the town, ‘‘didst 
thou know I have lately been in Jerusalem ? ” 

“ Nay, friend, it was too soon after the Pass- 
over to go there again, the past Sabbath was 
only the second since then.” 

“Yea, that is true, but one must attend to 
business thou knowest, so if it bids one go to 
Jerusalem, one hath to go; there is a clamor 
there again about this Jesus.” 

“Why should that be? what hath he done? 
I saw him at the great Feast, and his deeds 
were those of charity and mercy.” 

“Aye, so it seemeth, yet he reveres not the 
Sabbath day.” 

“His way is hedged about with spies who 
turneth his good deeds to evil, to please some 
we wot of in the synagogue ; what is laid to his 
charge this time ? ” said Ezekiel. 

“ Thou knowest how, during the Passover he 
healed a man at the pool of Bethesda on the 
Sabbath?” replied Jotham. 

91 


92 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


“I was there, a witness to it; they say for 
thirty- eight years the poor sufferer had been 
afflicted, and I know not how many times he 
had been carried to the pool to await the trou- 
bling of the waters. Thou knowest that only 
those who step in, or are put into the pool when 
the v/ater is troubled, derive any benefit thereby, 
and crowds of the sick and their friends are 
always to be found on the five porches and the 
steps from them down to the water. As had 
ever been the case heretofore, and was upon 
the day I speak of, others thronged the way 
into the pool, so much so, that when this man 
could procure aid, it was too late, the agitation 
of the water had ceased. When we came by, 
Jesus pitied him and said : ‘ Rise, take up thy 
bed and walk,’ which the man did. While 
Jesus and we that were with him went to the 
temple, the man who had been healed was met 
by some priests and reproved for carrying his 
bed on the Sabbath ; he replied, ‘ That he who 
had healed him, told him so to do ’ ; after a 
while the man entered the temple, and seeing 
Jesus there found out who he was, and, ingrate 
that he is, he went to the rabbis and informed 
them, that it was Jesus who had effected his 
cure,” said Ezekiel. 

“Not necessarily an ingrate, he may have 


or^ from Bethlehem to Calvary, 93 

only boasted of it, I doubt not he counted the 
observance of the Sabbath as a sacred duty,” 
Jotham replied. 

‘‘ The observance of the Sabbath ! if the Sab- 
bath were so sacred to him, why was he at the 
pool on that day? he was glad enough I tell 
thee to be cured then and there ; such a strict- 
ness as he displayed for the observance of 
the Sabbath considering all the circumstances, 
cometh, I take it, from something other than 
leligious zeal.” 

“ What said the priests and rabbis to it ? ” 

“There were more than priests and rabbis, 
the Sadducees and Pharisees, burying their 
bitter animosity to each other, joined in de- 
nouncing Jesus, and he was brought before the 
authorities upon the charge of Sabbath-break- 
ing; oh, I wish, Jotham, thou hadst been there. 
He told them ‘ God was his Father and that he 
did nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Fa- 
ther do’; and that ‘God judgeth no man, but 
hath committed the judgment to the Son: that 
all men should honor the Son, even as they honor 
the Father’; he told them John the Baptist, 
and even the Father himself, bore witness of 
who he is; moreover, he saith, ‘For had ye 
believed Moses ye would have believed me; 
for he wrote of me. ’ ” 


94 


Ezehiel of Bethlehem ; 


“ Said he more than that ? ” 

“Tea, much more, it was truly a strange 
scene, Jesus was so calm and self-possessed,, 
his judges and those who heard the accusation 
were wrought up in a fury, but they could not 
determine what to do with him, so, in the 
turmoil, they suffered him to go ; but hast thou 
anything more to tell ? ” spoke Ezekiel. 

“ I suppose it was after what thou hast told 
me had happened, that Jesus and his disciples, 
on their way to Galilee, passed, on last Sabbath, 
through a field of ripe grain ; they were hungry, 
for I presume they had not eaten anything that 
morning, as it was before the service at the 
synagogue.” 

“ Thou hast not told me where this occurred, 
or how came he to be Jwalking on the Sab- 
bath.” 

“ Nay, truly I did not ; he left Jerusalem after 
the Passover, and on last Sabbath he was only 
a Sabbath day’s journey away from Caper- 
naum ; as they . were going through the field, 
they did as it was lawful for them to do upon 
any other day than the Sabbath, plucked some 
ears of the corn, and rubbing them in their 
hands ate of it.” 

“ I know now what thou wouldst say — there 
were spies about and reported them.” 


or^ From Bethlehem to. Calvary. 95 

“ Yea, it was even so ; they were considered 
guilty of reaping, because they pulled the ears, 
and of grinding, because they rubbed the grains 
off the ears, and Jesus was condemned for al- 
lowing such desecration on the Sabbath.” 

“How answered he their charges?” 

He reminded them, that when our kiug 
David was an hungered, both he and his ad- 
herents ate of the holy bread which only the 
priests might eat ; he also said, the priests 
attended to the work of the temple upon the 
Sabbath and were counted blameless, so his 
disciples could do as they had done; for he, 
their Master, was greater than the temple.” 

“Aye, if David could do as it is known he did, 
and be blameless, Jesus and his disciples could 
do as they did ; for Jesus is greater than David,” 
said Ezekiel. 

“ He further said : ‘ The Sabbath was made 
for man, not man for the Sabbath, and that he, 
the Son of man, is Lord of the Sabbath.’ ” 

“ Dared they to punish him ? ” 

“They feared the multitude, he hath so many 
friends among the common people.” 

‘‘I wonder not at that, he hath healed so 
many of their sick, it surely would be an un- 
grateful people that could forget his mercies to 
them.” 


96 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


^*Aye, he hath so done.” 

“Thou knowest he goeth not about seeking 
occasions to demonstrate his power over dis- 
eases, unclean spirits or aught else in the uni- 
verse ; his love and sympathy goeth out volun- 
tarily toward all humanity in need, and as the 
sick and suffering are brought to him he allevi- 
ates their varied wants ; how can those so helped 
do aught else but love him ? I must say, peace 
to thee friend, I have now reached my field.” 


CHAPTER XIL 


^ WILL! I will! Thou shalt not have it!” 
JL “I tell thee I will, for it is mine!” 

These words, with many others of angry 
strife, reached the mother’s ears. Hastening 
from the house, she saw her two boys thus 
quarreling in the street. 

“My sons, what meaneth this?” she asked, 
advancing toward them. 

Heated with their argument, both tried to 
speak at once^ 

“He cheated me,” replied Jacob, the elder 
of the two. 

“I didn’t, mother. Jacob is always trying 
to take advantage of me, sullenly responded 
Isaac, the younger boy, “ and I am tired of it.” 

“Come into the house, my children, and we 
will talk this over. I sorrow to think that my 
boys would have hatred in their hearts for each 
other. How it would grieve thy father and 
kind, good ■ grandmother were they to hear 
of it ! Bear ye not in mind the words that the 
father told us were spoken by Jesus of Naza- 
reth: ‘Love one another’; ‘Love your ene- 
mies’? Ah! it is better to be ruled by love 
7 97 


98 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


than by hate.” Taking a hand of each, she led 
them into the house. 

“My sister,” exclaimed Mahlah, seeing them 
coming into the house, “ thou seemest to have 
two prisoners. I am sure that they are willing 
ones, as they do not make any resistance.” 

“Yea, Mahlah, they are little lawbreakers.” 

“ Lawbreakers ! What do thy words signify ? ” 

“ They have broken the law of God and the 
law of love, which Jesus of Nazareth teacheth. 
They were quarreling with each other.” 

“My nephews quarreling! Oh! Naomi, say 
not so. They are old enough to know better. 
I am ashamed of them. What good doth anger 
do one?” 

“T do not believe they will be so naughty 
again. Their angry emotions surely cause them 
to feel badly, and certainly make other persons 
about them very uncomfortable. Jacob, thou 
art the elder of the two ; dost thou feel sorry 
for what thou hast done?” 

“ I do, mother.” 

“And, Isaac, dost thou feel the same ? ” 

“Yea, mother; I like not to quarrel.” 

“ My boys must make friends with each other 
now. ‘Let not the sun go down upon thy 
wrath.’ ” 

“Mother, is God angry with us when we 


or. From Bethlehem to Calvary. 99 

regret that we have done wrong?” asked Ja- 
cob. 

“ Nay, not angry, my son ; he feeleth sorrow 
that, when he hath loved us with such infinite 
love, we should requite him so poorly. Though 
we neglect his precepts and do so many things 
to grieve him, yet he is ever waiting for us to 
return to him and walk in his ways. He is 
willing and ready to pardon us, and to take us 
back into his loving heart.” 

“But he is so far above us, mother,” said 
Isaac. 

“ Nay, my son ; to save us from sin, hath he 
not come down to earth, in the form of Jesus 
of Nazareth, who saith, ‘ I and my Father are 
one’? To whom should we go but to him? 
Thou must not think of him as a God far off, 
but as one ever near, and ready to help us 
when we cry to him. Didst thou ever think, 
my son, what a generous friend he is? He 
giveth us all that we possess; he maketh the 
grain to grow, the fruits to ripen, the water to 
gush from the rock; and the air, freighted with 
the perfume of a million flowers, he giveth us 
for breath ; and now he hath given us a part of 
himself, his Son Jesus, our Messiah.” 


CHAPTEK XIIL 


I T had been a work of time and patience ere 
Mahlah succeeded in reconciling the blind 
girl to her situation. One day Deborah said 
to her: “After thou left me on Thursday, 
Mahlah, I tried and tried to make myself good 
and contented; but I cannot do it; I cannot.” 

“Nay, child, of thine own self thou canst not. 
Thou wouldst do the work of another. The 
part required of thee is to believe on the true 
God and him whom he hath sent.” 

“Jesus ? ” 

“Yea, Jesus the Messiah. Thou canst re- 
pent of thy sins, but thou canst not purify thine 
heart. He alone can do that. Then give thy- 
self entirely to him; let him come into thine 
heart and dwell there, and rule each thought 
and action of thy life; so, walking thus with 
him day by day, thou shalt be satisfied. He 
hath said, ‘Without me ye can do nothing." 
Dost thou not see, Deborah, how true this is? 
For thou hast striven to do, and hast failed.” 

Over and over again Mahlah repeated to 
Deborah the words Ezekiel told her he had 
heard from Jesus as he taught the multitudes 
100 


From Bethlehem to Calvary. 101 

in Galilee. She spoke in such glowing terms 
of his perfect life spent in going about doing 
good to others, ofttimes picturing all so vividly, 
that both she and Deborah almost felt as though 
they were along with the throng in the pre- 
sence of the great Teacher Jesus. 

Dimly light shone into Deborah’s troubled 
heart ; gradually it grew brighter and brighter, 
tiU, by the grace of God, the smile returned to 
her face, the elasticity to her steps, and she 
realized that she had an interest yet in life. 
Her old ambitions were not to be achieved, but 
she felt that she must be content to do what 
she could, trivial though it might be. 

One thing after another presented itself to 
her mind, but there was always some objection 
to each. At last she thought out a plan that 
proved satisfactory to her. 

The day afterward, with her jar upon her 
head, she made her way to the old well, about 
a quarter of a mile outside of the walls of Beth- 
lehem. She had no fear of losing her way; for 
years she had trodden the usual paths, and she 
felt sure that, when she arrived at her destina- 
tion, some kindly neighbor would be there to 
fill her jar for her with water. 

When she reached the well all was quietness. 
She missed the familiar voices of the women 


102 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


as they gossiped at the well’s curb while await- 
ing their turns to draw the water. She must 
have come too late; the jars had all been filled 
and carried home. Presently the sound of 
some one approaching reached her. “A light 
footfall I hear,” she said to herself. “It is a 
youth who cometh. He is singing. His merry 
tones grow louder. I know by that token that 
he neareth me. Surely he will fill the jar of 
blind Deborah.” 

“Waiting, art thou, Deborah?” spoke the 
boy, coming up to her. 

“Yea, Jacob,” she replied, recognizing the 
voice of Ezekiel’s son. “I was too tardy in my 
coming; the others had all departed; I found 
naught here save the old well, and all was si- 
lence.” 

“Fear not, Deborah; thy jar shall be filled, 
and that right speedily,” said Jacob, as he took 
up the empty vessel. 

Soon the sparkling water gushed into it. 
Deborah held out her hands to receive the jar. 

“Nay,” said Jacob, “stoop down a little, so 
that I can the better reach, and I will place it 
on thy head, Deborah.” So saying, the boy 
put the jar upon her head, then turned to leave 
her. 

“Thou hast done me a goodly deed, Jacob; 


or, From Bethlehem to Calvary, 103 

peace be to thee,” said the blind girl, ere she 
started homeward. She had not proceeded 
many steps before she turned and called, “Ja- 
cob! Jacob!” 

The boy came to where she stood. “ What 
wilt thou, Deborah ? ” he asked. 

“ The thought came to me,” she replied, “ that 
if I would come to the well nigh this time of 
day, after the persons who draw water are gone, 
mayhap the children would come to me, and I 
could talk to them. Thou knowest that it is so 
little I can do, Jacob; but I want to inquire of 
thee if thou wilt tell those thou seest to come 
to me here. Wilt thou not do so?” 

“Yea, Deborah, truly I shall.” 

“I thank thee, Jacob. Again I say. Peace 
be to thee.” 


CHAPTEE XIV. 


T he early summer days had come, the low, 
flat, white-washed houses of Capernaum 
gleamed brightly in the sun, amidst the lush 
foilage of trees and vines; on the streets was 
the activity of business ; at the Koman garrison 
each soldier was attending to his duty, but the 
centurion was troubled ; a favored servant of 
his had been stricken with paralysis. That he 
should have been anxious in the matter was 
something to cause astonishment at that day; 
for bond servants or slaves were not regarded 
as were free citizens, the former were looked 
upon only as part of an estate, as something to 
be made use of. That this centurion was a 
man of much feeling, tenderness of heart, and 
liberality of mind was manifest. As often as 
Jesus was in Capernaum, the centurion made 
one of his audience and had seen evidence of 
his miraculous healing power, naturally in this 
crisis, it was his flrst consideration to apply to 
him for aid. He saw in Jesus, one, at whose 
command, even the spirits of darkness would 
flee ; no fear of refusal came to him, if he could 
only gain his attention and make known his 
104 










From Bethlehem to Calvary. 105 

desire, he was confident his request would be 
granted. Wishing to testify that he held Jesus 
in high esteem he sent for the Jewish elders of 
the synagogue, and solicited them to go to him 
and intercede for his servant. When they did 
so they spoke in the warmest terms of the cen- 
turion, and told Jesus (what he had before 
known) that he was kind to their nation, and, 
although a heathen, had actually built for them 
the synagogue they worshipped in. Jesus im- 
mediately accompanied them, when not far from 
the house they met some friends of the centurion, 
who said to Jesus : Lord, trouble not thyself,” 
the centurion, who was with them, said, “ for I 
am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under 
my roof; wherefore neither thought I myself 
worthy to come unto thee ; but say in a word 
and my servant shall be healed. For I also am 
a man set under authority, having under me 
soldiers, and I say to one. Go, and he goeth; 
and to another. Come, and he cometh ; and to 
my servant. Do this, and he doeth it.” 

Addressing those who were with him, Jesus 
said: “Verily I say unto you, I have not found 
so great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto 
you, that many shall come from the east and 
west, and shall sit down with Abraham and 
Isaac and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven, 


106 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


but the children of the kingdom shall be cast 
out into outer darkness: there shall be weep- 
ing and gnashing of teeth.” 

To the centurion he said : “ Go thy way; and 
as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee.” 

His humble faith had its reward, when he 
reached home he found his servant, who had 
been sick, rejoicing in restored health. 

It was not until sometime had elapsed after 
this incident occurred, that Ezekiel and his 
father heard of it, when they did so, the father 
remarked : “ Why should this Jesus say, we shall 
be cast out, that strangers will inherit the pro- 
mise the God of our fathers gave us, and we, 
the children of his kingdom, shall be cast 
out?” 

“I know not, my father,” replied Ezekiel, 
“but I shall follow him until I learn why he so 
states.” 


CHAPTEE XV. 



lOWAED the last hour of the next daj af- 


ter Deborah had talked with Jacob, she 
took the jar and went to the well. This time 
she was accompanied by two of her small 
cousins, whom she had induced to go with her. 
A woman who was later than the others in vis- 
iting the well filled her jar for her, and, as she 
hastened home, wondered why the blind girl 
tarried behind. 

Deborah sat down near the well, and placed 
the jar of water beside her, her little cousins at 
her feet. Thus she waited. Before long, two, 
then three, bare-legged children came timidly 
up to her. Deborah heard them approaching. 
Holding out her hands to them, she bade them 
come and seat themselves beside her. They 
were all well-known to her, and she was equally 
known by them ; but they were somewhat shy 
at first, as they did not understand why and for 
what they were bidden to meet Deborah at the 
well. She soon put their minds at ease, and 
they settled themselves down beside her. 

What a happy time they all spent as sho 
talked with them ! They were sorry when she 


107 


108 Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

arose, and, placing her jar upon her head, said : 
“The day is nearly done; we must depart.” 

“ Wilt thou not talk to us again ? ” one of the 
older girls asked. 

“Yea, on the morrow, if ye will all come to 
me here.” 

So, day after day, at the same hour, Deborah 
and her child-friends were to be found at the 
old well’s side, she teaching them the blessed 
truths which Mahlah had told her were spoken 
by Jesus. At one time the lesson from the 
growing flowers was taught; at another, that 
from the little birds. Again and again she re- 
peated the story of Jesus being “the Good 
Shepherd” and knowing each one of his sheep, 
they recognizing him and coming when called. 
The parable of the lost one which strayed from 
the flock, and of the Good Shepherd finding it 
and bringing it back, was an especial favorite 
with the children. 

Sweetly Deborah brought home to them the 
fact that they, the children before her, as well 
as all others in the world, were the lost ones 
for whom Jesus had left his home in the heav- 
ens, and whom he was seeking to save ; and as, 
in the parable of the prodigal son, when he re- 
pented and returned to his father’s house, there 
was great rejoicing, so, she assured her little 


0 /’, From Bethlehem to Calvary. 109 

auditors, there would be joy in heaven if they 
would repent and come into the fold of the 
Good Shepherd. Jesus was ever the central 
figure around which all else revolved. 

“ Deborah,” said one of the children to her 
one day, ‘‘why dost thou not get this Jesus to 
take away thy blindness ? ” 

“ He is too far hence. He teacheth in Gali- 
lee now.” 

“Canst thou not walk so far?” 

“Nay, it is a long journey thither, and also 
I know not the way.” 

“He hath been at Jerusalem.” 

“ That is even so, but it was before I lost my 
sight. If he cometh there again, some one will 
lead me to him.” 

But in this hope she was disappointed, as 
Jesus did not go to Jerusalem for the next 
feast of the Passover, and when, later on, he 
attended the feast of tabernacles, Deborah, 
who at no time had been very strong, was de*- 
barred by sickness from going to Jerusalem. 

Almost two years have passed away since 
Deborah lost her eyesight. During a great 
part of that time she has devoted an hour each 
day, except upon the Sabbath, to the children. 
Her small company of seven has increased to 
more than twice that number, and all of them 


110 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


evince more interest in the meetings than they 
at first did. She has been doing a good work, 
shaping the young minds to desire a larger 
knowledge of the Messiah and of his “new 
kingdom.” 


CHAPTER XYL 


T he long hot days of summer have come 
to an end, and now as Tisri, which is the 
same as the latter part of our September and 
beginning of October, approaches, the Feast of 
Tabernacles, the great thank-offering to God 
for the fruits and the harvest, which begins on 
the fifteenth and ends on the twenty-second of 
the month, is at hand. Again Jerusalem is 
thronged with people, but this time one of the 
features of the festival is, that all live in booths, 
constructed of branches of trees, on the house- 
tops, in court-yards and anywhere in and 
around the city, which affords sufficient room 
for them. 

Ezekiel, having gone to the celebration, met 
with many Galileans, whose friendship he 
formed while he was in their country with 
Jesus. 

“Ah ! friend Ezekiel,” said one of these men, 
coming up to him immediately after he entered 
the city, “ what think ye Pilate hath now done ? ” 
“He might be guilty of almost any outrage, 
he loveth our people no more than we love 
him,” replied Ezekiel. 

Ill 


112 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


“That is so, one would consider it affront 
enough to see Roman guards stationed about 
our sacred temple upon feast days and to be 
required to offer up prayers for the abhorred 
tyrants at Rome, but this last insult is more 
impious than the others; Pilate hath taken 
money from the taxes customarily paid to the 
temple since the time of Moses.” 

“How hath the heathen the temerity to do 
so? what would he do with the money?” 

“Pay for building the great aqueduct that is 
being constructed to the better furnish Jeru- 
salem with water ; the rabbis and priests have 
stirred up the people to require of Pilate to 
abandon his undertaking, but what weight 
would words have with such an one as he ? ” 

“ True, friend, ’twill be but an idle waste of 
breath; he hath the power and he will not 
lightly cast it aside.” 

“ Then we must fight for our rights.” 

“ Nay, friend, not so ; he hath the soldiery and 
all Rome to back him, and what are we but a 
handful, unskilled in the art of war; the odds 
would be against us.” 

“ Yea, but he hath with heathen hands taken 
from the treasure of Jehovah; oh, that the 
Messiah would come and hurl the alien from 
the throne and right the wrongs of his people.” 


or^ From Bethlehem to Calvary. 113 

“ Friend, believest thou not that he hath come ? 
thou hast heard and seen Jesus in thy own Gali- 
lee, and canst thou deny he is the Son of God, 
the long expected Messiah ? ” 

Why comes he not to free us then? ” 

“I perceive thou art like so many that look 
upon Messiah as an earthly king coming to 
conquer,” said Ezekiel. 

“And Jesus hath told us his kingdom is not 
of this world,” replied the Galilean. 

“ True, thou acknowledgest then that he hath 
a kingdom ; that is one point gained, friend.” 

“Aye, but where is it ? ” 

“His kingdom is not on earth, the home of 
our bodies; but in heaven, the home of our 
souls.” 

“ That is too distant a country to talk about 
kingdoms there.” 

“ It may not be so far off from some of us, 
friend, as we think, these are troublous times, 
and to none of us is a lease upon his life 
given.” 

“ If all is for a home hereafter, what good to 
us, in this life, doeth a Messiah ? ” 

“ This life, it seemeth to me, is but the road 
which leadeth to the ‘ new kingdom ’ of peace, 
joy, and love ; and if we repent of our sins and 
believe that Jesus is the Messiah and worthily 
8 


114 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


pattern after him as we walk therein we shall 
receive citizenship in the kingdom.” 

“I perceive, Ezekiel, thou hidest not ‘thy 
light under a bushel,’ as the Nazarene saith, 
but I must away and see what the people are 
doing;” so saying, the Galilean strode off 
toward the palace, while Ezekiel walked in an 
opposite direction. 

When the Galilean came in sight of Pilate’s 
residence, he saw it surrounded by a numerous 
crowd, many from his own province, Galilee; 
joining his countrymen, he was soon one of the 
loudest in invectives against the Koman gov- 
ernor. 

Pilate had no intention of surrendering his 
project at the demand of the people, neither 
did he intend to submit to the annoyance of a 
clamoring mob at the gates of his palace. Ac- 
cordingly, he determined to disperse the gath- 
ering throng, it mattered not to him how many 
lives it would cost to do so. With inflexible 
determination, he ordered some of his soldiers, 
clothed in citizens’ garb and armed with clubs, 
to surround the mob. This was done. Then, 
striking right and left, the soldiers slew hun- 
dreds of the defenseless people. Even some of 
those who were preparing their sacrifices in 
the temple courts were slain. 


or. From Bethlehem to Calvary. 115 

It was well for Ezekiel that he was in an- 
other part of the city at the time, or he, too, 
might have shared the fate of his friend, the 
Galilean to whom he talked prior to the mas- 
sacre. Instead of being a “ feast of good things 
unto the Lord,” it was a time of mourning and 
despair over all the land. As news of this new 
horror spread, the cry arose, ‘‘Oh! if the Mes- 
siah would but come ! ” 

“My son,” said his father, when Ezekiel, af- 
ter his return home, was narrating the occur- 
rences in Jerusalem, “if Jesus be the Messiah, 
why doth he not now assert his rights? ” ^ 

“Father, his kingdom is one of peace. He 
preacheth repentance; freedom from sin, not 
freedom from Kome.” 

“Then why do not those of influence in our 
religious assemblies embrace this new doc- 
trine ? ” 

“ Pride and self-righteousness are stumbling- 
blocks in their way. They crave no knowledge 
of the ‘new kingdom.’ They only follow Jesus, 
who is the impersonation of it, because they 
are jealous of his claims to the Messiahship, and 
are constantly watching to find something in 
his manner of life or his teachings by which to 
entrap him.” 

“Thou speakest boldly of the teachers of 
the law.” 


116 Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

“They bring it on themselves. Before the 
coming of the Messiah, I thought that a won- 
drous sanctity hung about the law; that by 
keeping its precepts I would earn a right to a 
home above ; but now I see that the law is only 
the means whereby our hearts are adapted for 
the entrance of Jesus, who is the fulfillment of 
the law.” 

“The law showeth us what is due to him 
who ‘ brought us out of the land of Egypt, and 
out of the house of bondage,’ and teacheth us 
obedience to him.” 

♦ “The law maketh us to obey him because 
we stand in awe of him, and fear his wrath if 
we do not obey him ; but through the teaching 
of Jesus I see that the feeling which we must 
have for God is, the fear to do wrong because 
we love him so much that we like not to grieve 
him.” 

“ Thou hast forgotten, Ezekiel, that we have 
ever been instructed to have reverence for him,” 
said the father. 

“All onr reverence for him and adoration of 
him must proceed from naught but love. First, 
last, and all the time, we must serve him from 
love,” replied Ezekiel. 

“I see it not exactly as thou seest.” 

“Jesus saith, ‘I am the Light of the world.’ 


or. From Bethlehem to Calvary. 117 

Oh ! my father, methinketh thou wilt not open 
thine heart to let this light come in. Perhaps 
it is because thou hast not seen him. How 
canst thou drive the doubt and darkness from 
thy soul, except thou let in the light ? ” 


CHAPTEK XVIL 



IISH ! fish ! fresh from the Sea of Tiberias ! ” 


was the crj that Ezekiel heard, as he 
made his appearance, soon after daybreak, in 
one of the streets, the morning after his arrival 
in Capernaum. He had again gone to Galilee 
to see and hear Jesus. 

“Fish! fish!” said the vendor of them, com- 
ing up to him. ‘‘Thou canst find no better 
than these, drawn out of the blue waters of 
‘the* eye of Galilee.’ ” 

“ I doubt not thy word, boy,” returned Eze- 
kiel; “but I live not in Capernaum, therefore I 
need not thy fish.” 

“Thou art from the south country, I per- 
ceive,” replied the boy. “Thou speakest not 
like a Galilean.” 

“ Bethlehem is my home.” 

“ Bethlehem ? It lieth not far from the Holy 
City. Thou hast come a great way.” 

“ Yea ; but I would go further, if needs must 
be, to hear the words of Jesus,” said Ezekiel. 

“Ah! art thou one of his followers?” inter- 
rupted the boy. 


118 


or^ From Bethlehem to Calvary. 119 

“I will ask thee a question. Boy, who art 
thou?” 

“ Ben-Ezra. I am the son of Miriam, Philip 
of Bethsaida’s sister.” 

“Oh!” said Ezekiel, putting his hands on 
the boy’s shoulders, and looking him steadily 
in the face, “ I understand it now. While thou 
hast been talking with me thy face seemed fa- 
miliar. It is thine Uncle Philip thou lookest 
like.” 

“Thou hast seen him?” inquired the boy. 

“Yea, often. He is a disciple of Jesus. But 
how comest thou to have fish for sale? Art 
thou a fisherman?” 

“I go in the boat with Zebedee; since James 
and John are gone, he hath none but the ser- 
vants and me. We have plenty to do. Simon 
Peter and Andrew were partners of James and 
John, and they have gone with Jesus also.” 

“ Yea, I know it. He called them to be his 
disciples.” 

“ I must tell thee about that,” said Ben-Ezra, 
lowering his basket of fish from his head and 
placing it upon the ground ; “ I was in the boat 
with Zebedee and his sons when Jesus saith to 
them, ‘ Follow me.’ ” 

“Thou wert?” 

“ Yea ; and when I can, I go to hear him. I 


120 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


was present on the day the multitude were fed 
near Bethsaida — not the town of that name 
close by Capernaum. It was on the evening of 
the day that he heard of the death of the Pro- 
phet John, called by some ‘the Baptist.’ He 
had sent his disciples out to preach, but they 
had returned to him, and had gone in a boat 
with him to Batiha, which, thou knowest, is 
near Bethsaida ; and when the people saw 
where he was going, they ran along the shore 
after him. Thou knowest what the crowds that 
go after him are like ? ” 

“Yea, and have been among them.” 

“I was with the crowd following the boat, 
and many of us were at Batiha before it landed, 
and, oh! how beautiful Jesus looked as he went 
among the people, and healed all the sick they 
had brought to him ! I heard him talk until 
nigh sunset. Then he said to mine Uncle 
Philip, ‘ Whence shall we buy bread, that these 
may eat ? ’ He asked this question to see what 
mine uncle would say, for Jesus knew what he 
would do about it. Philip answered, ‘ Two 
hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient 
for them, that every one of them may take a 
little.’ Then Andrew saith, ‘There is a lad 
here which hath five barley loaves and two 
small fishes ; but what are they among so 


or, From Bethlehem to Calvary. 121 

many?’ And Jesus said, ‘Make the men sit 
down.’ So all sat upon the grass; and Philip 
came over to me, for it was I who had the 
bread and fishes ; and when he gave them to 
Jesus, he looked up to heaven, and blessed the 
food, and brake it, and gave it to his disciples 
to hand to the people. I was close by, and 
witnessed it all; and, wouldst thou believe me, 
every one ate as much as he would, and we 
filled the twelve osier baskets of the disciples 
with the pieces that were left.” 

“How many partook of the food?” 

“ It was said there were five thousand men, 
and I know not the number of women and 
children. Wasn’t it a grand deed to feed the 
hungry, so many of them, out of almost no- 
thing, and to gather more fragments than we 
had bread at first?” 

“Grand?” replied Ezekiel, “it was sublime!” 

“ But that is not all. He bade his disciples 
get into the boat and row to Bethsaida — the 
one near Capernaum — while he sent the multi- 
tude away; then he went up into a mountain 
alone to pray. When next I saw mine Uncle 
Philip, he told me that they waited on the sea 
for Jesus, and after a while the wind blew ter- 
ribly, and about the fourth watch of the night 
they beheld some one walking on the sea ; they 


122 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


feared, thinking that it was a spirit ; but soon 
they heard the welcome voice, ‘ It is I ; be not 
afraid.’ Then Peter, who had more courage 
than the others, saith, ‘Lord, if it be thou, bid 
me come unto thee on the water’ ; and he saith, 
‘Come.’ Peter stepped over the side of the 
boat, and started to walk to Jesus. As long as 
he kept his eyes on Jesus, he was buoyed up 
on the water; but the wind blew around him 
so that it diverted his attention, and, looking 
away from Jesus, he became timorous, and 
nearly sank. ‘Lord, save me!’ he cried. Then 
Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him, 
and saith unto him, ‘O thou of little faith, 
wherefore didst thou doubt?’ and he held Pe- 
ter till they entered the boat. When they had 
done so, every one in the boat fell at his feet 
and worshipped him. Oh! how I wish tliat I 
had been there and seen it all!” 

“ Thinkest thou not, boy, that he who can do 
such miracles is more than man?” 

Ben-Ezra looked up in Ezekiel’s face, as he 
replied, “Simon saith ‘he is the Christ — the 
Son of the living God.’” Then stooping 
down, he lifted his basket of fish, balancing it 
upon his head, he passed on; and, long after 
he was out of sight, Ezekiel heard the cry: 
“Fish! fish! fresh from the Sea of Tiberias.” 


or^ From Bethlehem to Calvary. 123 

“ The Christ! ” mused Ezekiel, ‘‘ the boy hath 
gotten that name from the Greeks, for so they 
call our Messiah.” 

It was again spring, Ezekiel having been at 
the Passover and not finding Jesus there, but 
hearing from some of his disciples, who were 
in Jerusalem, that their Master was in Caper- 
naum, had arrived in that city the afternoon 
before he met Ben-Ezra, and all of the evening 
had been spent by him in listening to a synopsis 
of the parables Jesus had taught and to an ac- 
count of his movements during the past summer 
and winter. His restoration to life of the son 
of the widow of Nain ; his answer to the disci- 
ples of John, his forerunner who wearied out 
with his long imprisonment in the fortress of 
Machserus, almost doubting whether Jesus be 
the real Messiah, had sent two of his disciples 
to inquire of him ; his being invited to the 
house of Simon the Pharisee and how the fallen 
woman anointed his feet with fragrant ointment, 
while he reclined at table, to the indignation of 
his host, and Jesus’ reply, “Wherefore, I say 
unto thee, her sins, which are many, are for- 
given, for she loved much : but to whom little 
is forgiven the same loveth little his healing 
the man who was blind, deaf, dumb, and pos- 
sessed with a devil, and countless other acts of 


124 Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

love and mercy, which filled his days as he, 
making Capernaum his central point, went 
about the villages and towns of Galilee; Eze- 
kiel heard also of the continued admiration 
and interest of the crowds which attended 
Jesus, and the cruel rancor the rabbis, Phari- 
sees and Sadducees entertained for him; he 
heard too how Jesus, after a day passed in 
healing and speaking to a vast concourse of 
people had, in the evening, entered a boat and 
desired his disciples to row to the opposite side 
of the Sea of Galilee ; being thoroughly ex- 
hausted and lying down in one end of the boat, 
his head resting upon the boatman’s cushion, 
he was soon asleep. The sea when they set 
out was calm, the splash made by the oars alone 
breaking its stillness, but before the six-miles 
row was ended a storm of wind and rain burst 
violently upon the sea, and lashing the waters 
into foam flung it into the boat. The disciples 
were so much affrighted in the darkness and 
tempest, surrounded, as they feared by death, 
they knew not what to do ; they were reluctant 
to awaken Jesus, he was sleeping so peacefully 
amid the danger and confusion, but finally fear 
overcame their scruples, and arousing him they 
cried : “ Master, Master, we perish ! ” 

Then above the roar of the tempest they dis- 


or, From Bethlehem to Calvary. 125 

tinctly heard the words : ‘‘ Why are ye fearful, 
oh! ye of little faith?” and arising, Jesus 
rebuked the elements. The shrieking winds 
rushed sobbing from his presence, the raging 
billows sank back and were lost amid the waters 
of the sea, and lo 1 “a great calm ” was over all 
things; the boat glided quietly on. This, to 
his disciples, was a new phase of his miracu- 
lous capability, even the winds and waves con- 
ceded his divinity. His disciples saw that all 
things were under his authority, nothing was 
outside of his jurisdiction. As the vastness of 
the thought was realized by them, they trem- 
blingly said, one to another: “What manner 
of man is this? for he commandeth even the 
winds and water and they obey him.” Ezekiel 
heard also of the curing of the insane man of 
Gadara, after the boat landed near that city ; of 
the return of Jesus to Capernaum, healing the 
sick and blind there; of his miraculously re- 
storing to life the little daughter of Jairus, a 
ruler in the synagogue, who died while her 
father was beseeching Jesus to go to his house 
to heal her of sickness ; the incident which oc- 
curred during his visit to Nazareth, while 
speaking in the synagogue, upon the Sabbath 
day and proclaiming himself the Messiah, whom 
the lesson of the day from Isaiah, foretold ; his 


126 


Ezekiel of Bethlthem ; 


rejection as such by the people, and their strong 
indignation against him and determination to 
cast him headlong over the precipice; of his 
quiet withdrawal from the angry mob and re- 
tirement to one of the neighboring towns to 
continue his works of mercy; of giving his 
twelve disciples power over diseases and evil 
spirits and sending them out to preach in the 
towns of Galilee, not singly, nor all in one body, 
but in companies of two, depending for suste- 
nance upon the good-will of the people in the 
towns they would pass through, henceforth to 
be known as apostles, those sent forth by the 
Master, to act or do for him ; after proclaiming 
through Galilee Jesus’ Messiahship, and teach- 
ing of what his kingdom consisted, they would, 
in “his own good time,” be sent with the same 
message, to the other provinces of Israel. 

Ezekiel had listened to all this, with breath- 
less attention, and now the recital by Ben-Ezra 
of later happenings made him wish that it had 
not been so long a time since his last visit to 
Capernaum. 


CHAPTER XVIIL 


O NE day Isaac, one of Ezekiel’s sons, was 
playing in the street with some of his 
companions. He and Jeremiah, the son of a 
neighbor, differed as to the game. Their 
words became louder, the attitude of each to 
the other became more fierce. The rest of the 
boys looked dispassionately on the scene, ex- 
pecting the contest to end in blows. Suddenly 
Isaac drew back his right arm to strike; then 
he reluctantly suffered it to drop to his side. 
‘‘Nay,” he said, “I will not strike thee.” 

His adversary, looking contemptuously at 
him, exclaimed, “Coward, thou darest not!” 

“Nay, I dare not,” replied Isaac; “but be- 
lieve not that I fear thee. Something in here,” 
pointing to his breast, “ forbiddeth me.” 

“ I marvel how good Isaac hath become. He 
was not always so,” remarked one of the on- 
lookers. 

“Mayhap he hath been imbibing the doc- 
trines of the new teacher, the Nazarene,” 
sneered another. 

“ Yea, it is said that his father is one of the 
Nazarene’s followers ; my father met him down 
127 


128 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


in the Yalley of Hinnom the other day; he was 
journeying toward Jerusalem, perad venture to 
go thence into Galilee.” 

Isaac turned round, and, facing the speaker, 
said: “The Nazarene is a teacher indeed; yea, 
more than that ; he is our Messiah and King.” 

“King?” one of the other boys replied; “we 
have no king but Csesar.” 

“He is a Roman, and we Hebrews want a 
Hebrew king,” said Isaac, proudly. 

The former theme of contention seemed to 
be forgotten by the boys. All was now sub- 
merged in the political question before them. 

“This Nazarene goeth not about as a king. 
He hath no soldiers and no throne. He travel- 
leth on foot through the land. What can he 
do?” 

“Do!” exclaimed Isaac; “he can heal the 
sick and make the blind to see, for iny father 
witnessed him do all that.” 

“A physician could do the same.” 

“Nay, a physician cureth not all diseases, 
nor giveth sight to all the blind. Yea, more 
than that, my father says, he can do. He saw 
in Capernaum a little girl, daughter of a ruler 
of the synagogue, to whom this Jesus gave life 
after she was dead.” 

“Isaac, now we know that thou art trying to 


or, From Bethlehem to Calvary, 129 

deceive us. Who but the God of our fathers 
can bring the dead to life ? ” 

“ Nay, Jeremiah, I deceive thee not. Jesus 
verily did that thing. My father saith, ‘ Life is 
a gift from God.’ Furthermore, he saith that 
this Jesus bestoweth it, because he is the Son 
of God,” spoke the boy, reverently. 

“The Son of God!” exclaimed the others. 

“ Our God is in the heavens,” said one boy. 
“ How could his Son be here on earth ? This 
Nazarene is a man like our fathers.” 

“I know not; I only know what my father 
saith, that his Father, God, sent him here to 
be a Saviour and Eedeemer for his people.” 

“ How can he save any one ? ” 

“ He will ‘ draw all men unto him,’ and teach 
them how to live, so that, when the time comes 
for each to die, he will go to dwell with the 
God of our fathers.” 

As usual, upon his return home, Ezekiel was 
soon encircled by a party of eager listeners to 
his story. After he had recounted what he had 
heard, he told them what he had seen. He had 
reached Capernaum about the time of the re- 
turn of Jesus to Magdala from the coasts of 
Tyre and Sidon, whither he had gone after in- 
curring the enmity of the Pharisees and rabbis 
on account of his answer to them when rebuked 


9 


130 Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

for ignoring the outward ceremonials of the 
law. Favorable reports of Jesus’ power to heal 
all manner of diseases had spread even to Tyre 
and Sidon. While he was upon the Canaanitish 
border, a woman of that country came to him, 
crying, ‘‘Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son 
of David,” and besought him to heal her 
daughter, “who was vexed with a devil.” Plis 
disciples were annoyed at her importuning, and 
begged Jesus to send her away. Send her 
away ! Strange that these men should presume 
to think of such a thing! Had not all his works 
been works of mercy and love, and had they 
not been witnesses of them? It would seem 
that they did not yet understand his true nature 
and mission. Send her away! To do so would 
be contrary to his every thought and feelirTg. 
What a rebuke to them were his words, “I am 
not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of 
Israel”! 

When the woman heard him speak so kindly, 
she drew nearer, and, prostrating herself before 
him, cried, “Lord, help me!” 

As Jesus looked at her, a heathen woman at 
the feet of the Son of the true God, he said: 
“It is not meet to take the children’s bread, 
and to cast it unto the dogs.” 

Pleadingly she looked up as she humbly re- 


or, From Bethlehem to Calvary. 131 

plied, “Truth, Lord; jet the dogs eat of the 
crumbs which fall from their master’s table.” 

Only a small portion she craved of all the 
good things he had in his gift. Happy and 
thankful was her heart as she heard from his 
lips, “ O woman, great is thy faith : be it unto 
thee even as thou wilt.” 

This miracle drew such a crowd of persons 
after Jesus that he withdrew from that re- 
gion. Going round the north of Galilee, he, 
with his apostles, came to Decapolis, upon the 
eastern coast of the Sea of Galilee, where, as 
Jesus sat upon a mountain near the sea, great 
numbers came to him, bringing their sick. 

It was the third day since most of them had 
arrived, and their protracted stay had exhausted 
the supply of food which each had brought 
with him. Jesus had too much compassion on 
them to send them away hungering, for many 
would have far to go to reach home. His apos- 
tles had, for his and their own needs, but seven 
loaves and a few fishes; nevertheless, he again 
miraculously fed the multitude. This time 
there were four thousand men and many wo- 
men and children present. The apostles filled 
seven baskets with the fragments left. When 
he had thus satisfied all, he dismissed them, 
and, crossing the sea, came to the coast of 
Magdala. 


132 Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

No sooner had he arrived in such close prox- 
imity to Capernaum than the Pharisees and the 
Herodians, who had become friendly with each 
other in order to crush him, and the Sadducees, 
the highest in authority as judges of the law, 
united in their efforts to destroy the founder of 
the new doctrine. They came to him demand- 
ing a “sign from heaven,” but he answered 
them: “O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the 
face of the sky : but can ye not discern the 
signs of the times ? A wicked and adulterous 
generation seeketh after a sign ; and there shall 
no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the 
Prophet Jonas.” 

Although Jesus defeated their plans, he 
thought that the better thing for him to do was 
to leave the neighborhood. Whilst Ezekiel 
stood watching the boat in which he sat, as it 
bore him over the blue waters, he little thought 
that, though Jesus would once more visit Ca- 
pernaum, this was the last time he would ever 
teach or work miracles in its houses or streets, 
which had already witnessed so many of his 
wondrous doings. 


CHAPTER XIX. 


W HEN Jesus landed from the boat at Beth- 
saida, a blind man was brought to him ; 
leading him outside of the town, Jesus touched 
his eyes and inquired, “ If he saw anything ? ” 
“I see men as trees walking,” the man re- 
plied. 

Upon being again touched, his sight was fully 
restored. Sending him away to his house, Jesus 
charged him : “ Neither go into the town, nor 
tell it to any one in the town.” 

Leaving Bethsaida, Jesus and his apostles 
journeyed as far northward as Caesarea Philippi, 
a city built under the shadow of Mount Hermon. 
Here, in this heathen country, one hundred and 
twenty miles from Jerusalem, he would be safe 
from the scorn and reviling of the rabbis and 
his other enemies. As they walked along the 
beautiful country road toward the city, Jesus 
inquired of his apostles: ‘‘Who do men say I, 
the Son of man, am? ” 

He knew full well what the answer to his 
question would be, but he would hear from the 
apostles what they had heard regarding him, 
and to get the expression of their own feelings 
133 


134 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

toward him, he then asked : “ But who say 
ye that I am ? ” 

Would their answer to the question satisfy 
him that these twelve men, whom he had been 
training for one year and a half, for a special 
work, realized who he, their Master, was, and 
the importance of his work? They believed 
that he was the Messiah, the one foretold by 
the prophets, for had not Philip said unto Na- 
thanael, “We have found him of whom Moses 
in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus 
of Nazareth,” and some of them had heard 
John the Baptist declare, “That this is the Son 
of God,” they had heard the devils, whom Jesus 
had cast out of those afflicted by them, cry, 
“Thou art the Son of God,” and they had all 
fallen at his feet in the boat, when he walked 
to them upon the water, and exclaimed : “ Of a 
truth thou art the Son of God,” but now, with 
nothing supernatural about them, to call forth 
such a declaration, naught but the blue sky 
above and the green fields upon either side of 
them, Peter replied to his Master’s question: 
“ Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living 
God!” 

“ Blessed art thou Simon Bar-jona ! for flesh 
and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but 
my Father which is in heaven. And I say also 


or^ From Bethlehem to Calvary. 135 

Tinto thee, That thou art Peter, aud upon this 
rock I will build my church ; and the gates of 
hell shall not prevail against it. And I will 
give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of 
heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on 
earth, shall be bound in heaven ; and whatso- 
ever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in 
in heaven.” 

Thus did Jesus picture the future church of 
which he and his apostles were to be the foun- 
dation, firm and sure as a rock it was to stand, 
its belief, the declaration of Peter : “ Thou art 
the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Though 
that church was not yet started, the divinity of 
Jesus looked forward and seeing its wondrous 
growth and extended influence he knew it would 
be victorious over even “the gates of hell.” 

A little while after this, Jesus gave to each 
one of his apostles a like share in the ad- 
ministration of the affairs of his church as he 
now gave to Simon Peter. Directed by the 
Holy Spirit they were all of them empowered 
to manifest the doctrines by which that church 
should be governed. Jesus then forbade them 
to tell any man that he was the Christ; they 
were not yet ready to declare him to the world 
as such, there was more for them to learn con- 
cerning the nature and mission of Jesus, and 


136 Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

besides that, he wanted men to form their own 
judgment of him when they saw his works and 
heard his words. 

Walking quietly along the way, listening to 
the discourse of their Master, it is no wonder 
the apostles were startled when he told them 
what awaited him on his last journey to Jeru- 
salem, how “ he should suffer many things of 
the elders, and chief priests and scribes, and 
be killed, and be raised again the third day.” 

No wonder Peter impetuously exclaimed: 
“Be it far from thee. Lord; this shall not be 
unto thee ! ” 

The thought that such would be the termina- 
tion of the life of him who had just acknow- 
ledged that he was the Son of God, their pro- 
mised and long-looked for Messiah, the founder 
of the “ new kingdom,” was to Peter an incon- 
gruity. 

Jesus turned and said unto Peter : “ Get thee 
behind me, Satan ; thou art an offence to me : 
for thou savorest not the things that be of God, 
but those that be of men.” 

Peter was looking at the human side of the 
question, he had yet to learn that such a death 
for his beloved Master was part of the great 
plan of salvation, it was something that must 
be, to accomplish that for which he came into 


or, From Bethlehem to Calvary. 137 

the world ; and that his death would not be a 
defeat for the new church, but through his 
resurrection, following his death in so short a 
time, it would be the key-note of victory. This 
the minds of the twelve could not then grasp, 
but later on they understood it all. 


CHAPTER XX. 


A utumn, with its mellow breath and its 
ripened fruits, had again come. Ezekiel 
and his father went up to Jerusalem to the 
feast of Tabernacles, which was held at that 
season. Ezekiel saw beauty in everything on 
the way. The six miles between Bethlehem 
and the Holy City were short ones to him. He 
was hoping to see Jesus. Not so his father, 
who was almost fearing to meet him. His son 
had talked with him so much regarding Jesus 
being the Messiah, and the necessity of every 
one believing him such, that his fidelity for the 
observance of the ceremonial part of the old 
Mosaic law was not quite so strong as it had 
been, and he felt apprehensive that seeing and 
hearing Jesus might probably tend to weaken 
it yet more. 

Turning a corner of one of the narrow streets 
after entering the city, they met a lad walking 
briskly toward them. 

‘‘Ben-Ezra!” exclaimed Ezekiel, throwing 
up both hands. 

“None other, friend !” smilingly returned the 
lad. 


138 


139 


From Bethlehem to Calvary. 

“With whom art thou here, Ben-Ezra?” 

“I came with Zebedee and the other Gali- 
leans.” 

“ Didst not Jesus come also ? ” 

“Nay; but, friend, I have much to tell thee 
of him.” 

“Say on, Ben-Ezra. I will hear thee with 
pleasure.” 

“Thou rememberest that when thou left 
Capernaum Jesus was on his way to Caesarea 
Philippi. After his arrival there he prayed 
alone. When he rejoined his apostles he told 
them many things concerning himself, but 
charged them to tell no man what he had said. 
Six days after that he took Peter, James, and 
John with him, and went up a high mountain. 
Some persons say that it was Mount Hermon. 
While there, Jesus, I presume, went apart from 
them to pray, for the apostles fell asleep. After 
a while they were awakened by a light shining. 
Then the Shekinah enwrapped them, and they 
saw a wondrous vision. I know not what it 
was, for Jesus told them, when coming down 
from the mountain, that they should ‘tell the 
vision to no man until the Son of Man be risen 
again from the dead.’ ” 

“What meant he by that, Ben-Ezra?” 

“ I know not. It may be that the minds of 


140 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


his other followers are not sufficiently prepared 
to take in the greatness of the vision.” 

“Why should he, our Messiah, speak of dy- 
ing ? Why should he die ? ” 

“ He hath enemies, thou knowest.” 

“Yea; but would they dare to harm him? 
His every act is one of blessing and charity; 
from his lips fall words of truth and wisdom 
more precious than pearls and rubies ; and then, 
Ben-Ezra, he is the Son of God. Would not 
his Father guard him from all danger ? ” 

“I cannot tell thee how it is; but he hath 
said that he must go to Jerusalem, and suffer 
at the hands of the elders and chief priests and 
scribes, and be killed, and later be raised from 
the dead.” 

“Be sacrificed!” broke in Ezekiel’s father. 
“ Ours is not a Messiah to be sacrificed.” 

“It is strange, my father; but Jesus hath 
said it, and therefore it must be true.” 

Ezekiel and Ben-Ezra were silent, while the 
old man cast his eyes upon the ground, as if in 
thought. Presently, in a low voice, he uttered 
the words, “The prophet of old hath said, 
‘They shall look on him whom they have 
pierced.’ It may be that this Jesus is he.” 

Ezekiel, thinking it not advisable to disturb 
his lather’s meditations, turned to Ben-Ezra 


or^ From Bethlehem to Calvary. 141 

and inquired : Hast thou more to tell me, 
lad?” 

‘‘Yea. After they descended the mountain, 
they saw a large crowd gathered about the 
other apostles, all talking and disputing. When 
Jesus came up to them, he asked one of the 
scribes standing there, ‘ What question ye with 
them?’ A man near by answered that he had 
brought his only child, a dumb boy, over whom 
an evil spirit had such entire control that it 
caused him to suddenly cry out, and ofttimes 
to fall to the ground, sorely bruising him ; and 
the disciples could not heal him. Then Jesus 
told the father to bring his son to him. As 
soon as he did so the youth was attacked by 
another terrible spell ; but Jesus rebuked the 
spirit, and the boy was immediately healed.” 

“Ben-Ezra, how much like him that was! al- 
ways doing good 1 Oh 1 if the multitudes would 
only go to him to be relieved of their burdens 
of sin ! But did not the apostles question him 
wherefore they failed?” 

“Yea, after the multitude left they did so; 
and Jesus said that it was because of their un- 
belief.” 

“How incredible it is that men who have 
been continually with him for. such a long time 
should be wanting in faith 1 ” said the father. 


142 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem; 


“Aye, father, the flesh is weak. It is hard to 
overcome the prejudices that have held one all 
one’s lifetime. We Israelites believe so differ- 
ently from what Jesus would teach us ! I know 
the apostles are fully assured that he is the one 
sent from God ; but sometimes, when he is ab- 
sent from them, I think their faith wavereth 
some what. Poor human nature hath her hold 
on them still, it seemeth.” 

“They profess, above all others, to be his 
chosen followers, it is their duty to have their 
faith in him and to do all things whatsoever he 
would like them to do.” 

“My father, they that serve him must not 
do so from such a motive, it is love that should 
move the heart; those who would follow him 
must do what he requireth of them, because 
their love for him is so ardent that they cannot 
do any other thing than serve and obey him; 
one is always happiest with those one loves, 
so if one believes in and loves Jesus, his greatest 
pleasure will be to keep day by day so close to 
him that one can step in his foot-prints, as it 
were, and not try to make a path for one’s self, 
but be satisfled with that which Jesus hath 
trod.” 

“ Believest all that thou sayest, Ezekiel ? ” 

“Yea, father, every word of it.” 


oi\'From Bethlehem to Calvary. 143 

The three were silent for a few moments, 
then Ben-Ezra said : “I have not told thee all, 
Ezekiel.” 

“ If thon knowest more lad, say on.” 

“ When Jesus and the twelve came back to 
Capernaum, he who receiveth the tribute money 
went to Peter and asked, ‘ Doth not your Master 
pay tribute?’ and he answered that he did; 
when he went into his house, where Jesus 
always stayed when in Capernaum, and told 
Jesus of it, he said: ‘What thinkest thou, 
Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth 
take custom or tribute? of their own children 
or of strangers’? Peter saith unto him, ‘of 
strangers;’ Jesus saith unto him, ‘then are the 
children free, notwithstanding, lest we should 
offend them, go thou to the sea and cast a 
hook, and take up the fish that first cometh 
up: and when thou hast opened his mouth, 
thou shalt find a piece of money; that take, 
and give unto them for me and thee. ’ ” 

“It was doubtless, lad, the temple tax; for 
;he said ‘then are the children free,’ he, being 
the Son of God, should be exempt from paying 
tribute to the temple, which is dedicated to his 
Father’s service; he is ever careful to avoid 
giving offence though.” 

“ Then,” continued Ben-Ezra, “ some of the 


144 Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

twelve inquired of him: ‘Who shall be the 
greatest in the kingdom of heaven ’ ? ” 

“How strange it is that the example and pre- 
cepts of Jesus have not driven such worldly 
aspirations from the minds of his apostles,” 
said Ezekiel. 

“Ah ! what said he to that ? ” questioned the 
father. 

“ He called a little child to him — thou knowest, 
Ezekiel, how fond he is of children,” said Ben- 
Ezra, “and set him in their midst, and said, 
‘Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted 
and become as little children, ye shall not enter 
into the kingdom of heaven : whosoever there- 
fore shall humble himself as this little child, 
the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.’ ” 
Humility is one of the requisites he looketh 
for in his followers,” added Ezekiel. 

“And furthermore he saith, ‘Whoso shall 
receive one such little child in my name, re- 
ceiveth me, but whoso shall offend one of these 
little one which believe in me, it were better 
for him that a millstone were hanged about his 
neck, and that he were drowned in the depth 
of the sea’; while they were thus talking Peter 
asked him, ‘Lord, how oft shall my brother 
sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven 
times?’ Jesus saith unto him, ‘I say not unto 


OTy From Beihlehem to Calvary. 145 

thee until seven times, but until seventy times 
seven,’ then he spoke some instructive parables, 
but they are so long I cannot repeat them 
here — and now, Ezekiel, I must leave thee, but 
shall again see thee shortly, I trust.” 

“ Peace to thee, Ben-Ezra,” returned Ezekiel, 
as he and his father parted from him. 

Though disappointed at Jesus’ absence, Eze- 
kiel did not altogether despair of seeing him at 
the Feast before its termination. 

Three days later he met a crowd of men, each 
one bearing a citron in his left hand and a palm 
branch woven with willow and myrtle in his 
right, a choir of Levites was with them, all ap- 
peared to be in the happiest of moods. Of the 
number was Ben-Ezra, “ Oh, Ezekiel,” he cried, 
“I have been to the spring of Siloah to see the 
priests fill the golden vessels with its water , for 
the morning offering.” 

“It is a rare sight, my lad,” returned Ezekiel, 
as he joined the procession going to the temple. 

“Ezekiel,” said his father, when he’ met his 
son in the temple, “ there seemeth to be much 
feeling against this Jesus — one dareth scarcely 
breathe his name aloud.” 

“I know, father, but that argueth nothing, 
there are always those who are jealous of the 
good and decry them ; it is so in this case.” 

10 


146 Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

“The opposition cometh from the rabbis, 
Pharisees, and Sadducees ; the common people 
think not so hardly of him, I find.” 

“Nay, why should they? he hath been their 
friend — see, father, there he cometh, of whom 
we talk,” said Ezekiel, pointing toward the 
porch. 

The old man cast his eyes in the direction 
indicated, presently he said: “I should have 
known him, my son, he appeareth not like those 
about him — what a noble bearing he hath, and 
yet withal there is something so meek and 
lowly about him ; I cannot describe it.” 

“Aye, father, but his face ; what speaks it to 
thee?” 

“ Gentleness and love, my son, are writ there 
but move nearer — I would hear him speak,” so 
saying, they made their way through the throng 
until they stood not far from Jesus, who was 
addressing the people. 

After those who were going to the Feast had 
departed for Jerusalem, Jesus and his apostles 
left for Galilee, it being their intention to travel 
down through Samaria to the Holy City, which 
they had not visited for nearly two years. The 
inhabitants of the village they arrived at the 
first night of their journey declined to receive 
him. James and John reported this to their 


or, From Bethlehem to Calvary. 147 

Master, and begged of him that he would call 
down fire from heaven upon the people for their 
inhospitality, but Jesus reproved them for wish- 
ing to retaliate and passed on to another village. 

While in Samaria he sent out seventy of his 
professed followers, two by two, to proclaim 
tidings of his “new kingdom” throughout Sa- 
maria, as the twelve had done in Galilee a short 
time previous. Thus those whom the Israelites 
considered heathen, and bitterly hated, were 
acknowledged by Jesus as eligible for his king- 
dom; the scheme of salvation would embrace 
them and all mankind as well as the Israelites. 

Near one of the towns on their route, the 
weird, sad cry, “Unclean! unclean!” smote 
upon their ears — afar off, for the poor miserable 
creatures dared not approach any one, stood 
ten lepers. When they saw that the foot-trav- 
ellers were Jesus and his apostles, with one 
accord, they wailed forth: “Jesus, Master, 
have mercy on us ! ” 

That cry was enough ; the heart of him, upon 
whom they called, went out to them in tender- 
ness and pity. “Go, show yourselves unto the 
priests ; ” he said. 

They knew what that command signified and, 
all loathsome as they were, started to obey. 
Before they entered within the walls of the 


148 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem. ; 


town, the healing they longed for came to them. 
One of them, when he saw that he was cured, 
went back and fell on his face at Jesus’ feet 
and thanked him. Jesus said to him : “ Were 
there not ten cleansed? but where are the 
nine?” turning to his apostles he continued, 
“there are not found that returned to give glory 
to God, save this stranger.” 

The prostrate man made no reply as to the 
whereabouts of his late companions in misery. 
How could he offer any excuse for them ; their 
absence was sufficient to brand them with 
ingratitude, without any words of either con- 
demnation or extenuation from him. 

Looking down approvingly upon the man, 
Jesus said : “Arise, go thy way ; thy faith hath 
made thee whole.” 

Even in this incident was shown the ingrati- 
tude of his own people, the Israelites, toward 
him, the only one of the party of lepers who 
showed any feeling of thankfulness belonged to 
Samaria, the others were Israelites. 

Upon reaching Jerusalem, Jesus unostenta- 
tiously entered the temple, then it was Ezekiel’s 
father saw him for the first time. 

“It is wonderful how he speaketh,” said he, 
“I marvel not now that people say, ‘ He talketh 
as one having authority, and not as the Scribes.’ ” 


or. From Bethlehem to Calvary, 149 

“ He says, ‘ His doctrine is his that sent him, 
and if any man will do his will he shall know of 
the doctrine,’ ” replied Ezekiel. 

‘‘He feareth not to speak out courageously, 
notwithstanding there are spies here to appre- 
hend him.” 

“Many, even now, would lay hands on him, 
but are held back by fear of some kind.” 

“If he be not the Messiah, I doubt whether 
the true one, when he comes, can do more 
miracles than this Jesus hath done.” 

“ Nay, father, nobody can do more — for he is 
the Messiah — but if thou still have a doubt, 
think of his beautiful life of self-abnegation. 
He, thou knowest, could have been proclaimed 
the Messiah and hundreds would have ranged 
themselves under his leadership against the 
Roman rule, but he has thrust earthly honors 
aside and announced over and over again that 
his kingdom is not of this world.” 

On the last day of the Feast, as Ezekiel and 
his father were in the temple, they saw a body 
of officers whom the Pharisees and chief priests 
had sent to arrest Jesus; when Jesus saw them 
he said ; “Yet a little while am I with you, and 
then I go unto him that sent me ; ye shall seek 
me, and ye shall not find me ; and where I am, 
thither ye cannot come.” 


150 Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

These words were not understood by the 
people. They questioned among themselves 
whither he would go. 

“ What thinkest thou he meaneth, Ezekiel ? 
asked his father. 

“He speaketh of his return to his Father 
after his death, I believe,” replied Ezekiel. 

“It may be, it may be. But what saith he 
now? ” 

In order to be more distinctly heard by all 
the crowd, Jesus stood up and cried: “If any 
man thirst, let him come unto me, and 
drink.” 

“What is more necessary,” remarked Ezekiel 
to his father, “ than water ? Jesus, the true 
fountain, is ever ready to give ‘the living water* 
to him who thirsts for it. Oh ! if all persons 
would only go to him and depend on him for 
their daily supply!” 

“If they go not, they only will be to blame,” 
replied the father. 

“Yea; they have been bidden many times in 
all manner of loving words. He doth not bid 
them come because they can do aught for him ; 
nay, the love in his heart goes out to them ; he 
yearns to do for them, and he saith, ‘Come 
unto me, and I will give you rest ’ ; ‘ I am the 
truth, the life, and the way’ to happiness eter- 


or, From Bethlehem to Calvary. 151 

nal. Strange, strange that more do not accept 
his invitation ! ” 

The crowd about them began disputing 
among themselves as to who Jesus was. One 
said, “He is a prophet”; another, “He is the 
Christ.” 

“ The Christ is not to come from Galilee, but 
from Bethlehem,” responded another. 

“We know not whence he is,” was declared 
bj some. 

While they were thus arguing, Jesus passed 
out of the building. Seeing that he had gone, 
the officers returned to the Pharisees and chief 
priests, who were greatly chagrined that he 
had not been made a prisoner. When rebuked 
for their dereliction of duty, the officers re- 
plied: “Never man spake like this man.” 

Such a fascination and charm were about 
Jesus that, armed as they were with authority 
from the temple rulers, they dared not stretch 
forth their hands to take him. 

“Ezekiel,” said his father, as they were on 
their way home from Jerusalem, “thou mayest 
be right. Thy Jesus is protected from his ene- 
mies by Jehovah as if he were his Son. I un- 
derstand it not wholly, but not one seemeth to 
have the hardihood to lay hands on him.” 

“ No person, my father, hath as yet. I heard 


152 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem; 


that the council were very angry that he had 
escaped them. Nicodemus was the only mem- 
ber of it that differed with his colleagues. He 
said to them, ‘Doth our law judge any man 
before it hear him, and know what he doeth ? * 
The others answered him by taunts, implying 
that he, too, was a Galilean.” 

“Who is this Nicodemus?” 

“He who went to Jesus secretly one night, 
to find out what he should do as a member of 
the ‘new kingdom.’ Jesus informed him that 
his was a spiritual kingdom, and inquired of 
Nicodemus, ‘If I have told you earthly things, 
and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I 
tell you of heavenly things ? ’ Further, he said 
that ‘ God so loved the world, that he gave his 
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in 
him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ 
He declared to Nicodemus that he is that Son, 
and that belief on him as such frees the be- 
liever from condemnation with God, and en- 
titles him to a place in the kingdom.” 

“Yea; I have heard of him.” 




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CHAPTEK XXL 


M y husband,” said Naomi, one day, 
“I would that Mahlah and I could 
take the children to Bethany.” 

“To see Jesus, Naomi? He is in that neigh- 
borhood, and often goeth there for the night.” 

“ Yea, Ezekiel ; I want to take them to him, 
that he may bless them. Oh! think what a 
great matter it would be for them to be touched 
by his hands 1 Better, far better, than to be 
blessed by our rabbis here.” 

“ Thou sayest truly, wife. What thou wish- 
est shall be done. Jesus loveth little children. 
It hath been told me that, while he and his 
apostles were in Perea, many mothers brought 
their little ones to him. The apostles wished 
to induce them to go away and not trouble the 
Master; but Jesus said, ‘Suffer the little chil- 
dren to come unto me.’ Ah! my Naomi, it is 
wonderful what a wealth of love he hath to be- 
stow on man.” 

“Aye, my husband, not on man alone, but 
he gathereth even the little ones close to his 
heart. I would have spoken to thee ere this 
since he hath been in Judea, but there was 
153 


154 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem; 


always somewhat to prevent my going. Now 
nothing hindereth, and surely naught could be 
inore favorable for our journey than this de- 
lightful autumn weather.” 

“All must be prepared by the morrow at 
sunrise.” 

“ Everything shall be in readiness.” 

The older members of the household, who 
were astir early on the ensuing morning, aroused 
the slumbering children. After their devotions 
and their morning meal, they hastened to be off. 
The children could scarcely wait. A journey 
was something novel to them, and in their lim- 
ited experience, Bethany seemed a long, long 
distance away. None of them had ever been 
half so far from home, except Jacob, who had 
been at Jerusalem. The children gathered 
about the door, impatiently awaiting their mo- 
ther and their aunt. 

“Just look at that ass,” said Jacob, as the 
patient animal, saddled and bridled, stood near 
the house, cropping the scanty herbage. “ Isn’t 
he a beauty ? ” 

The beast, as though cognizant of the flat- 
tery, lifted his head, shook it once or twice, 
then turned it toward the speaker. 

“ He knoweth his friend,” continued the boy. 
“Dost thou not, pretty creature?” 


or^ From Bethlehem to Calvary. 155 

The animal answered the question by walk- 
ing up to Jacob, rubbing his nose against the 
boy’s arm, and loudly braying. 

“There! there!” said Jacob, patting his pet’s 
head, “I felt sure the sound of my voice would 
bring thee to me. Verily, I believe thou hast 
more sense than some persons I know.” 

“ Here come the others ! ” shouted the young- 
est of the children, as she saw her mother and 
her aunt approach the door. Behind them 
came the grandfather and grandmother to bid 
the party “God speed” and watch them start 
upon their way. 

Ezekiel’s appearance among them was the 
signal for departure. The younger children, 
holding out their hands, ran to their grand- 
mother. 

“Wilt thou not say, ‘Go in peace’?” they 
cried, anxious to be off. 

“Yea, my little ones,” she replied, kissing 
each in turn. “The God of our fathers safely 
guard thee, and bring thee home again.” 

Their father held out his hand to one of 
them to lift her on the ass. 

“Nay! nay!” she exclaimed, “not tiU I kiss 
grandsire ” ; and she threw her arms about the 
neck of the old man, who stooped down for the 


caress. 


156 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


At last, the farewells over, the two little girls 
perched upon the back of the ass, Jacob hold- 
ing the rein to guide it whilst walking at its 
head, Ezekiel, Naomi, Mahlah, and Isaac upon 
either side of the animal, the happy little com- 
pany took its departure. 

As they drew near Rachel’s tomb, the sun 
arose over the top of the mountains, and threw 
its beams athwart the sacred spot. 

“Oh! see,” said Mahlah to Naomi, “how the 
sun gilds the tomb of our Mother Rachel.” 

“ It is a blessed omen, Mahlah ; we shall cer- 
tainly see Jesus.” 

“And his words will bring cheer to our hearts, 
as those rays will at noonday drive the shadows 
from yon grave.” 

Twice the travellers halted in shady places 
to rest, so that by the time Jerusalem was 
reached the day was growing warm ; but they 
did not stop, as they were anxious to complete 
the two miles which remained between that 
city and Bethany. Noon found them at their 
destination, safely domiciled in the hospitable 
home of their friends, Martha, Mary, and Laza- 
rus, where all of the hungry travellers did full 
justice to the midday repast, which was set be- 
fore them soon after their arrival. 

The afternoon and evening passed away with 


or, From Bethlehem to Calvary. 157 

pleasaut chat, yet he whom the strangers were 
in quest of did not come. The sisters said: 
“Jesus has not been at our house for several 
days, but, without doubt, he will be soon.” 

While they were at dinner the next day, the 
door-latch was lifted, and “ Peace be to this 
house!” were the words they heard. 

The beloved voice uttering its soothing bene- 
diction was a welcome sound to all. 

“My Master! my Master!” exclaimed the sis- 
ters, “ we were longing for thee.” 

Lazarus hurriedly brought a basin with water 
and a towel, and bathed Jesus’ weary feet to 
refresh him after his long, dusty walk. When 
he had eaten some food, the whole family gath- 
ered about him. His winning manner had 
drawn the children to him. Soon Jacob and 
Isaac were at his feet, whilst Sarah, the third 
child, came at his loving invitation and stood 
beside him, leaning trustingly against him, and 
little Esther, the youngest, sat upon his lap. 
Laying his hands on the head of each one, be- 
ginning with Jacob, he tenderly blessed them. 
“Of such,” he said, “is the kingdom of 
heaven.” 

What a glorious afternoon that was! one to 
be forever remembered with pleasure and grat- 
itude by all of the little company, they had 


158 


Ezekiel of Bethlehein ; 

been privileged to bold such close companion- 
ship with the Son of the Highest.” 

Regretfully they saw, with the closing hours 
of day, the ass brought to the door in readiness 
for their departure. Well they realized, as they 
bade their friends adieu, that never again, dur- 
ing the earthly life of each, would either he or 
she enjoy a like time. 

They did not go further than Jerusalem that 
night, but remained there with friends until the 
succeeding morning. 

“Didst thou see him, Naomi?” were the first 
words of greeting Ezekiel’s wife received from 
her mother-in-law. 

“Yea, mother.” 

“Oh! grandmother,” cried Isaac, bursting 
into the room, “Jesus, the Messiah, took baby 
Esther on his knee, and put his arm around 
Sarah and drew her close to him, as she stood 
by his side.” 

“And where wert thou, my lad?” 

“Jacob and I sat at his feet.” 

“That was a fitting place for both Jacob and 
thee, my son. At his feet thou wilt learn from 
him the way to the ‘ new kingdom,’ and wilt be 
guided as thou walkest therein.” 

“Oh! mother,” exclaimed Mahlah, entering 
the apartment, “it gladdens me so much that 


07’, From Bethlehem to Calvary, 159 

we journeyed to Bethany; that thou went 
not with us is my only regret. Such precepts 
and teachings I have never heard, except from 
Jesus when I saw him before in Jerusalem.” 

“Wert thou as much pleased now, my daugh- 
ter, as then? ” 

“Far more so, mother. This time we v/ere 
so close to him, a happy family clustered about 
him. We did not seem like strangers to him, 
nor he to us. As I kept my eyes upon his 
blessed face, and gave ear to his kindly words, 
I thought, would that it were possible to creep 
into his great, true heart, and to be completely 
lost in him ! ” 


CHAPTEK XXIL 


T ESUS remained in Jerusalem and its neigh- 
borhood until the Feast of Dedication, 
which was held about six months after that of 
the Tabernacles. The temple worship had been 
suspended under Antiochus Epiphanes, this 
feast was in commemoration of its renewal. 
Jerusalem at that time wore its gala dress, my- 
riads of lights flashed out each night from the 
temple and dw^elling-houses, everywhere merri- 
ment and rejoicing abounded during the seven 
days of the festival. 

As Jesus was so near to Bethlehem, Ezekiel 
and his father had frequent opportunities of 
seeing him, especially as part of the time he 
was in Bethany at the house of their valued 
friends, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. To Jesus 
this quiet little town, so near Judea’s great wil- 
derness, was a peaceful retreat. Here, among 
trusted friends, he could for a time forget the 
cruel hatred of so many toward him and find 
refreshment for his wearied body after the 
fatigue of his busy days, here he was always a 
welcome, honored guest. 

A great part of the autumn had been spent 
160 


or^ From Bethlehem to Calvary, 161 

by Ezekiel in making many short journeys, and 
now that Kisleu had come, he accompanied his 
friends and neighbors to the Holy City to at- 
tend the feast. 

It was the Sabbath day; the temple was 
thronged with people ; strangers who had come 
to attend the feast as well as those who were resi- 
dents of Jerusalem were there. As Jesus was 
in the treasury teaching, the Pharisees disputed 
with him because he said, “I am the light of 
the world: he that followeth me shall not walk 
in darkness, but shall have the light of life. 
Though I bear record of myself, yet my record 
is true : for I know whence I came, and whither 
I go, but ye cannot tell whence I come, and 
whither I go. Ye judge after the flesh, I judge 
no man. And yet if I judge, my judgment is 
true : for I am not alone, but I and the Father 
that sent me. It is also written in your law, that 
the testimony of two men is true. I am one 
that beareth witness of myself : and the Father 
that sent me, beareth witness of me.” 

“Where is thy Father?” questioned the 
Pharisees. 

Jesus replied: “Ye neither know me, nor 
my Father : if ye had known me, ye should 
have known my Father also.” 

Again Jesus said unto them, “ I go my w^ay, 
11 


162 Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your 
sins : whither I go, ye cannot come.” 

Then said the Jews: “Will he kill himself? 
because he saith : ‘ Whither I go, ye cannot 
come.’ ” 

“Ye are from beneath,” answered Jesus, “I 
am from above : ye are of this world ; I am not 
of this world. I said therefore unto you, that 
ye shall die in your sins ; for if ye believe not 
that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.” 

“Who art thou?” they cried. 

“Even the same that I said unto you from 
the beginning. I have many things to say, and 
to judge of you : but he that sent me is true ; 
and I speak to the world those things which I 
have heard of him,” replied Jesus. “When ye 
have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye 
know that I am he, and that I do nothing of 
myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I 
speak these things. And he that sent me is 
with me : the Father hath not left me alone ; 
for I do always those things that please 
him.” 

These words carried conviction to the hearts 
of some of his hearers; to them Jesus turned 
and said: “If ye continue in my words, then 
are ye my disciples indeed ; and ye shall know 
the truth, and the truth shall make you free!” 


0 /*, From Bethlehem to Calvary. 163 

Then some of the Jews boasted that they 
were “Abraham’s seed and were never in bon- 
dage to any man.” 

Jesus told them: “If ye were Abraham’s 
children ye would do the works of Abraham, 
but now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told 
you the truth, which I have heard of God.” 

“ Say we not well,” they cried, “ that thou art 
a Samaritan and hast a devil ? ” 

“I have not a devil,” replied Jesus; “but I 
honor my Father, and ye do dishonor me. And 
I seek not mine own glory: there is one that 
seeketh and judgeth. Yerily, verily, I say unto 
you. If a man keep my saying, he shall never 
see death.” 

“Now we know,” the Jews exultingly cried, 
“that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and 
the prophets ; and thou sayest. If a man keep 
my saying, he shall never taste of death. Art 
thou greater than our father Abraham, which 
is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom 
makest thon thyself?” 

Jesus told them that, “he of whom ye say 
that he is your God is my Father, and honor- 
eth me. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see 
my day : and he saw it, and was glad.” 

“Thou art not yet fifty years old,” said the 
Jews, “and hast thou seen Abraham?” 


164 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


“Verily, verily,” Jesus replied, “I say unto 
you. Before Abraham was, I am.” 

This so enraged them that they took up 
stones to cast at him; but Jesus and his apos- 
tles walked out of their midst. 

As he passed through the temple gate he saw 
a blind beggar sitting by the roadside, waiting 
for alms, which the frequenters of the temple 
occasionally bestowed upon those waiting near 
the sacred building. Though in haste, the 
apostles questioned him, “Master, who did 
sin, this man or his parents, that he was born 
blind?” 

To show them that he did not endorse the 
old heathen belief that bodily ailments were 
punishment from God for sin, as did the rab- 
bis in their interpretation of the law, Jesus an- 
swered : “ Neither hath this man sinned, nor 
his parents : but that the works of God should 
be made manifest in him.” 

Did the beggar hear aright? Did not this 
stranger hold him as one accursed? Surely 
the words that fell from his lips were, “Neither 
hath this man sinned, nor his parents.” He 
raised his head, which before had been sunken 
upon his breast, and turned it in the direction 
of the kindly voice. Expectancy was written 
on his face. What should he heai next? 


or, Fi'om Bethlehem to Calvary. 165 

To prove to his apostles that the man should 
be helped, not shunned, on account of his af- 
fliction ; that mercy was one of his Father’s 
attributes, and that he, as that Father’s repre- 
sentative in this world, was bound to exercise 
it, Jesus said: “I must work the works of him 
that sent me, while it is day : the night cometh, 
when no man can work. As long as I am in 
the world, I am the light of the world.” 

Oh! light! light! Was not that what the 
beggar longed for? The look of expectancy 
was now one of appeal. There was a moment- 
ary silence. Oh! would that he could see what 
the stranger was doing ! As the apostles stood 
around Jesus, watching his every movement, 
he spat upon the ground, and made clay, with 
which he anointed the sightless eyes of the 
man, and told him to “Go, wash in the pool of 
Siloam.” 

Near the eastern wall of Jerusalem was this 
fountain, whence the w^ater flowed into the 
pool of Bethesda. From this fountain the 
priests carried water each morning to pour 
upon the altar in the temple. There was no 
healing virtue in the water, but it was some- 
thing for the man to do. He was anxious for 
freedom from his blindness ; to gain it he must 
obey the great physician’s directions. The 


166 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


sight he longed for could come in no other 
way. 

When the man followed the instructions of 
Jesus, sight came to him. Great was the as- 
tonishment of his friends and neighbors. Upon 
seeing him, they said, “Is not this he that sat 
and begged?” Some answered, “This is he”; 
others said, “ He is like him ” ; but he said, “ I 
am he.” 

They were curious to know how sight had 
been given him. He told them how and by 
whom the miracle had been wrought. Then 
they inquired where Jesus was; but of his 
whereabouts the man was ignorant. Then they 
took him to the Pharisees, and again the man 
reiterated the account of his cure. Some of 
the Pharisees declared that Jesus “was not of 
God,” because he healed the man upon the 
Sabbath-day ; others declared that it was im- 
possible for a sinner to do such miracles. 
Upon their appealing to the beggar for his 
opinion of his healer, he replied, “He is a 
prophet.” 

The Jews would not be convinced that the 
man had been blind, and had received sight, 
until his parents were brought, and the Jews 
asked them if this man was really their son, 
who had been born blind. The parents de- 


or, From Bethlehem to Calvary. 167 

dared him to be such, but could not account 
for his now being able to see; and, because 
they feared that, if they gave the credit of the 
cure to Jesus, thereby acknowledging him to 
be the Messiah, they would be put out of the 
synagogue, they threw the responsibity upon 
their son by saying, ‘‘He is of age; ask him.” 

The Pharisees then endeavored to induce the 
man to acknowledge God as the one who had 
given him sight and not Jesus, whom they de- 
nounced as a sinful man. The man had not 
apparently given a thought to the moral char- 
acter of his benefactor, his mind had not yet 
grasped the momentous truth of the divinity of 
Jesus, only the great bodily good he had been 
the recipient of was all that he tully appre- 
ciated. 

When again inquired of by his questioners 
how and by whom his eyes had been opened he 
replied : “ I have told you already, and ye did 
not hear ; wherefore would ye hear it again ? 
will ye also be his disciples ? ” 

They boasted that they “ were Moses’ disci- 
ples,” and tauntingly said: “Thou art his dis- 
ciple, we know that God spake unto Moses ; but 
as for this fellow, we know not whence he is.” 

The man, in reply, told them, it was a strange 
thing they did not know that, when he had 


168 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


opened his eyes and all persons know that God 
hears and answers those who are his worship- 
pers and not sinners, and that if Jesus were not 
of God he could not open blind eyes ; for no 
mere man had been able to do so since the 
world began. 

The Pharisees, who held to the old belief re- 
garding the blind, scornfully declared: “Thou 
wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou 
teach us?” so saying, they thrust him out from 
their presence and from the synagogue. 

When Jesus heard the man had been excom- 
municated, he found him and asked him : “ Dost 
thou believe on the Son of God? ” 

“Who is he. Lord, that I might believe on 
him ? ” was the reply. 

“Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that 
talketh with thee ! ” 

The knowledge that it was the Messiah, the 
Son of God, talking with him, who had been 
aforetime a poor, blind beggar, fell with start- 
ling force upon him, and it was to this Messiah 
that he was indebted for the gift of sight ! No 
wonder he exclaimed, as he fell upon his knees 
before Jesus : “ Lord, I believe ! ” 

On one of the days of the celebration of the 
feast, as Jesus was again in the temple, walking 
in Solomon’s porch, some of the Jews ques- 




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i 


or^ From Bethlehem to Calvary. 169 

tioned him whether he were the Christ or not ? 
He answered : “ The works I do in my Father’s 
name they bear witness of me, I and my Father 
are one.” 

Then the Jews, in their wrath and excitement, 
took np stones to stone him. Jesus calmly said 
to them . “ Many good works have I shewed 
you from my Father ; for which of those works 
do ye stone me? ” 

They answered : “For a good work we stone 
thee not ; but for blasphemy and because that 
thou, being a man, makest thyself God.” 

Looking steadily at them Jesus said : “ Say 
ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified and 
sent into the world, Thou blasphemest : because 
I said, I am the Son of God? If I do not the 
works of my Father, believe me not, but if I do, 
though ye believe not me, believe the works: 
that ye may know and believe that the Father 
is in me and I in him.” 

The Jews were more angry than ever, and 
determined to drag him from the temple to 
stone him, but he quietly disappeared amid the 
crowd. 

Disappointed at the treatment Jerusalem’s 
people had given him, he sadly left that city 
and went, with the twelve, across the Jordan 
into Perea. 


CHAPTEK XXIIL 



lATHER! father!” shouted Isaac, running 


to meet Ezekiel on his return from his 


field, “Joseph, the Widow Anna’s son, hath 
come home! I saw him!” 

“ Hath he come to stay with his mother ? ” 
“Nay! he purposeth to remain only a few 
days. He told me to tell thee it is rumored in 
Jerusalem that Lazarus of Bethany is sick, and 
that his sisters have sent this message to Jesus : 
‘Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.’ ” 
“I sorrow to hear of his illness; but Martha 
and Mary have done well to send that message 
to him, the loving, sympathizing Jesus, to 
whom none ever carries his troubles and griefs 
without finding relief. If nothing occurs to 
prevent it, I shall go to-morrow to Bethany.” 

But when “to-morrow” came, word reached 
Ezekiel that Lazarus was dead; and he knew 
that it would be useless to go to Bethany, as 
he would be unable to arrive there until after 
the funeral, which would take place, according 
to the custom of the country, a few hours after 
death. 

Three days afterward, Ezekiel, his wife, and 


170 


From Bethlehem to Calvary. 171 

his sister left home to visit their sorrowing 
friends, Martha and Mary, whom they found 
seated upon the floor, clad in the garb of 
mourning, veils covering their heads, and their 
feet without sandals. 

Ezekiel, Naomi, and Mahlah took their places 
along with the other friends who had come to 
comfort the sisters. Presently some one came 
into the apartment and informed Martha that 
Jesus was coming, but had not yet entered the 
town. In haste she left the house, and went 
out to meet him. 

“Lord,” she cried, “if thou hadst been here, 
my brother had not died. But I know, that 
even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, 
God will give it thee.” 

Looking tenderly at her, Jesus replied, “Thy 
brother shall rise again.” 

“I know that he shall rise again in the re- 
surrection at the last day,” she sorrowfully an- 
swered. That time seemed so distant, and she 
would have him restored to her at once. 

Then, in a triumphant tone, Jesus said: “7 
am the resurrection and the life : he that belie v- 
eth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he 
live: and whosoever liveth and belie veth in me 
shall never die. Believest thou this ? ” 

“Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the 


172 Ezekiel of Bethlehem; 

Christ, the Son of God, which should come 
into the world.” So saying, she left him, and 
hurriedly returned home. Going quietly up to 
Mary, she breathed into her ear the words, 
“The Master is come, and calleth for thee.” 

That sentence brought balm to Mary’s stricken 
heart. The- Master, the omnipotent One, had 
at last come! Quickly she left the circle of 
friends, and followed her sister to the spot, 
outside the walls, where Martha had parted 
from Jesus. 

Seeing the sisters going toward the gate of 
the town, their friends, concluding that they 
had gone to their brother’s grave to weep, went 
after them. 

As soon as Mary came to Jesus, she fell at 
his feet weeping, and from her full heart rose 
the same cry which had gone out from her sis- 
ter’s: “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my bro- 
ther had not died.” 

The scene touched the hearts of all standing 
there, and soon the air was filled with lamenta- 
tion and weeping. The divinity of Jesus did 
not restrain him from shedding tears of grief 
over human trouble. “Jesus wept” as he in- 
quired, “Where have ye laid him?” 

The reply was, “ Lord, come and see.” 

While on their way to the burial-place, one 





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or^ From Bethlehem to Calvary. 173 

of the bereaved sisters on either side of their 
dearly-beloved Jesus, Mahlah said to Naomi: 
“How wondrously touching is the love he hath 
for his friends!” 

“ Mahlah,” she responded, in a low, reveren- 
tial tone, “could it be otherwise? His is the 
love of the Son of God.” 

“ Thou speakest truly. As he walketh before 
us with Martha and Mary, behold how his face 
is as the face of one talking with God,” returned 
Mahiah. 

“I doubt not he now holdeth communion 
with his Father on behalf of his grieving 
friends,” said Naomi. 

“ He ever craveth blessing for others, for 
himself he asketh nothing.” 

“This must be the place,” said Naomi, as 
they, with the other members of the party, 
halted in front of a cave, the inner walls of 
which had, in many places, been excavated for 
tombs, each tomb being closed by a flat stone. 

“ Take ye away the stone,” were the words 
they heard Jesus utter, Ezekiel stepped forward, 
eager to be one of the first to obey the com- 
mand, and placed his hand upon the stone. 
Martha protested, her brother had been dead 
four days and why now remove the covering to 
his grave? 


174 Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

“ Said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldst 
believe thou shouldst see the glory of God?” 
was Jesus’ reply to her. 

Martha calmly submitted her will to his, 
knowing that she could safely trust all things 
in his hands. 

Ezekiel, with some help removed the stone; 
then Jesus, lifting his eyes up to heaven, said : 
“Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me: 
and I know that thou hearest me always ; but 
because of the people, which stand by, I said 
it, that they may believe that thou hast sent 
me.” 

This prayer concluded, the now silent com- 
pany heard him cry in loud, clear tones : 
“Lazarus, come forth!” 

Awakened by the well-known voice, he who 
was dead issued forth from his rocky tomb, 
and the startled crowd saw him, bound as he 
was in grave clothes, cast himself at Jesus’ feet. 
“Loose him,” said his deliverer, “and let him 

go-” 

Before the people had recovered from their 
astonishment, Martha and Mary were upon their 
knees beside their brother, pouring forth words 
of thankfulness and glorifying God. 

As willing hands freed Lazarus from the 
bandages, Mahlah said to Naomi: “Surely 


or^ From Bethlehem to Calvary. 175 

none of these standing here can now doubt 
that Jesus is the Messiah.” 

“Oh! Mahlah,” she replied, “it seemeth to 
me that it must be a happy thing to have his 
friendship.” 

“Yea, fpr his is a friendship which endures 
even after death.” 

The party, that so short a time before had 
sorrowfully left the home in Bethany, now re- 
turned to it with hearts full of joy and gratitude. 
Many of them believed on Jesus, but there 
were some evil-minded persons, v;ho, notwith- 
standing, continued to doubt and made it their 
business to carry to the Pharisees a report of 
what he had done. 

As the day was almost spent, Ezekiel, Naomi, 
and Mahlah only remained at their friend’s 
house, upon their return to it from Lazarus* 
tomb, long enough to partake of some refresh- 
ments, Ezekiel brought the ass to the door, 
and Naomi mounting it they started home- 
ward. 


CHAPTEK XXIV. 


W HEN the chief priests and the Pharisees 
heard that Jesus had raised Lazarus 
from the dead, they summoned a council — which 
was the only semblance of authority left them 
■since Palestine had become a Eoman province, 
as their Jewish court, or Sanhedrim, had been 
abolished by their conquerors — to take meas- 
ures against him. The number and peerless- 
ness of Jesus’ miracles alarmed them. His in- 
creasing popularity with the common people 
was a source of never-failing unrest to them. 
They feared that, as he claimed to be the Mes- 
siah, the populace, in a state of excitement 
occasioned by daily witnessing the matchless 
power displayed by his miracles performed, 
might declare him king. As they did not ac- 
knowledge his divinity, and as they viewed 
him as but a man like themselves, they believed 
that the offer of a crown would be a strong 
temptation to him ; and, should there be, con- 
temporaneously with such an offer, an uprising 
of the people with Jesus as its leader, they felt 
confident that Eome, with its many soldiers, 
would speedily stamp out such revolt, and then 


From Bethlehem to Calvary. 177 

would, doubtless, perish the temple service. 
Thus they, the Sadducees and Pharisees, would 
lose their power, nominal though it might be. 

The discussion in the council was an angry 
and vehement one. Some advocated taking the 
offender into custody ; others hesitated as to so 
doing, because the people were his friends and 
might foment insurrection and rescue him. 

In the midst of the hot debate, Caiaphas, a 
wily and crafty politician, a fit tool of Kome, as 
though conscious that the odor of high -priestly 
sanctity clung to his robes, calmly and digni- 
fiedly arose. He informed his brother-council- 
lors, “Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that 
it is expedient for us that one man should die 
for the people, and that the whole nation perish 
not.” 

His words swayed the disputants as reeds 
are shaken by the wind ; and from that day 
each one watched for an opportunity to make 
the purposed arrest. 

Jesus was well aware of their hostile inten- 
tions toward him, and, taking his apostles with 
him, went to Ephraim, a town on the border of 
the wilderness. Thither vast multitudes flocked 
to him, the sick and the well, all eager for a 
sight of him, or a touch of his wonder-working 
hand. 


12 


178 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


Ezekiel, having been told that Jesus bad left 
Judea and gone in the direction of the wilder- 
ness, determined to follow him. He endeav- 
ored to persuade his friend and neighbor, Jo- 
tham, to accompany him ; but the only answer 
he received was, “Nay, nay, I cannot go; mine 
affairs at home must be looked after. I can ill 
afford time for a journey now. It seemeth to 
me that thou must be taken with this new doc- 
trine ; thou goest often to hear its leader.” 

“I only wish thou didst appreciate both the 
new doctrine and its leader as much as I do.” 

“’Tis well enough to go after new fancies, if 
one hath the time and inclination ; but, as I 
have neither, thou must go without me, Eze- 
kiel.” 

Disappointed that his friend manifested so 
little interest in his own spiritual welfare, Eze- 
kiel set out alone upon his Walk. About even- 
ing of the second day he reached Ephraim, 
where he ascertained that Jesus had left the 
town, and, crossing the Jordan, had entered 
Perea. 

After a night of rest in Ephraim, Ezekiel 
pursued the course pointed out to him, and 
before the close of day he joyfully descried, at 
a short distance before him, a large gathering 
of people grouped upon the side, and at the 


or^ From Bethlehem to Calvary. 179 

base, of a hill. He forgot the many lonely, 
tired steps he had taken since leaving home; 
he realized nothing except the one fact that his 
Messiah was just before him, and that soon he 
would look upon his dear face. 

On the subsequent Sabbath, as Ezekiel was 
in the synagogue of the town nearest the local- 
ity where he joined the throng about Jesus, he 
saw, with delight, that there was not a vacant 
place in the building. As Jesus stood in the 
desk beside the reader of the synagogue, every 
eye was riveted upon him while he explained 
to the large audience the lesson of the day. 
Among the congregation Jesus saw a woman 
whose back was so distorted by disease that 
she was unable to walk erect. Calling her to 
him, he laid his hands upon her and said, 
Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.’' 

Instantly she straightened herself, a thing 
she had not been capable of doing for eighteen 
years. Oh ! to be no longer necessitated to go 
through life a misshapen specimen of human- 
ity, suffering daily and hourly pain, was some- 
thing she had ceased to hope for. Overjoyed 
at the new experience, she gave expression to 
her feelings in loudly praising God. 

“No exceptions,” thought Ezekiel, “can be 
taken to so notable an act of mercy, although 


180 Ezekiel of BeihleheDi ; 

it was performed on the Sabbath-day.” In this 
conjecture he was incorrect. The ruler of the 
synagogue wrathfully told the people, “There 
are six days in which men ought to work: in 
them therefore come and be healed, and not 
on the Sabbath-day.” 

Jesus, knowing that the zeal he displayed for 
the strict observance of the Sabbath was not 
from love of the day, therefore said to him: 
“ Thou hypocrite ! doth not each one of you on 
the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the 
stall, and lead him away to watering? and 
ought not this woman, being a daughter of 
Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these 
eighteen years, to be loosed from this bond on 
the Sabbath-day?” 

These words carried conviction to the hearts 
of his opponents, and, as they hung their heads 
with shame, Ezekiel and the rest of the congre- 
gation hailed their discomfiture with delight. 
Jesus then spoke to the people of the great re- 
sults that would be developed from small be- 
ginnings in the growth of the kingdom of God, 
which kingdom he likened to a grain of mus- 
tard seed planted in a garden, taking root and 
growing so luxuriantly that the branches soon 
become strong enough to bear the weight of 
“fowls of the air.” 


OTy From Bethlehem to Calvary, 181 

Jesus was now on his way through Perea, 
returning to Jerusalem, teaching in each town 
and village as he passed on. At one point 
some Pharisees came to him and warned him 
to depart from that region, or Herod Antipas 
might kill him. His reply to them was, “ Go 
ye, and tell that fox. Behold, I cast out devils, 
and I do cures to-day and to-morrow, and the 
third day I shall be perfected. Nevertheless I 
must walk to-day, and to-morrow, and the day 
following : for it cannot be that a prophet per- 
ish out of Jerusalem. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 
which killest the prophets, and stonest them 
that are sent unto thee; how often would I 
have gathered thy children together, as a hen 
doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye 
would not! Behold, your house is left unto 
you desolate: and verily I say unto you. Ye 
shall not see me, until the time come when ye 
shall say. Blessed is he that cometh in the 
name of the Lord.” 

“ Friend,” said Ezekiel, to one standing near 
him, “it is not often the Messiah speaketh thus, 
is it?” 

“Nay, but doth it not remind thee of what 
he said about Capernaum ? ” 

“ When he denounced it, friend, in terms like 
this : ‘And thou Capernaum which art exalted 


182 Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell ; 
for if the mighty works which have been done 
in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have 
remained until this day. But I say unto you, 
That it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and 
Sidon, in the day of judgment, than for 
thee’!” 

The day previous to the Sabbath brought 
Jesus and those with him to a city, one of the 
inhabitants of which was a noted Pharisee, who, 
upon his arrival, invited him to dine with him 
the following day. Whilst enjoying his hos- 
pitality, a man afflicted with dropsy entered 
the apartment where Jesus was, turning to the 
other guests he inquired : “ Is it lawful to heal 
on the Sabbath day? ” 

The company were silent, not one ventured 
to answer the question. 

Simply a touch, simply a few words, and the 
Great Physician sent the glow of restored health 
to the sick man’s cheek, the strength to his 
limbs; so that he went his way rejoicing. 

Weeks after the foregoing event and Ezekiel 
had returned home, and whilst he was narrating 
the occurrence: ‘‘It seemeth to me,” he said, 
“more a desecration of the Sabbath day for 
one to make a dinner and entertain guests, than 
to have pity on the suffering and to mercifully 


or. From Bethlehem to Calvary. 183 

do for them what none other than the Son of 
God could do.” 

“Thou thinkest correctly, my son,” replied 
his father; “ what said the Messiah then?” 

“ He bade each, when invited to a wedding, 
to humbly take one of the lower places, instead 
of selecting a chief seat, lest some one more 
worthy should come after and the master of the 
feast invite the one occupying the chief place 
to vacate and go lower ; which would be a 
mortifying thing, how much better to at first 
take a low place and be promoted to a higher 
one by the master, when he came in.” 

“ That is the true doctrine, yet how few walk 
thereby.” 

“ He further said, ‘ When thou makest a din- 
ner or a supper, call not thy friends nor thy 
brethren, neither thy kinsmen nor thy rich 
neighbors; lest they also bid thee again, and a 
recompense be made thee, but when thou 
makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the 
lame, and the blind, and thou shalt be blessed : 
for they cannot recompense thee : for thou 
shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of 
the just.’ ” 

“ How the world would be revolutionized 
were the teachings of Jesus carried out,” said 
the father. 


184 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


“ That is even so, my father, I wonder if the 
time will ever come ? ” 

“Never in our day, my son,” said the old 
man, sadly shaking his head. 

“ Thus, as we came toward Jerusalem, the 
Messiah instructed us by means of most fitly 
chosen parables, as some persons call them, 
but word pictures are what they seemeth to me. 
Ever and anon, the Pharisees troubled him with 
their hatred of him. I must tell thee about a 
rich young man who one day came to Jesus, 
saying : ‘ Good Master, what good thing shall I 
do that I may have eternal life ? ’ ‘ Why,’ in- 

quired Jesus, ‘callest thou me good? there is 
none good but one, that is God; but if thou 
wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.’ 
The young man said he had kept them all from 
his youth up, what therefore did he now lack ? 
Jesus told him, ‘ If thou wilt be perfect, go and 
sell that thou hast and give to the poor, and 
thou shalt have treasure in heaven ; and come 
and follow me.’ ” 

“ .Didst he do it, Ezekiel? ” eagerly asked his 
father. 

“Nay, nay, the pleasure his wealth gave him 
was, in his judgment, too much to be cast aside, 
he could not do it ; so he went away sorrowing 
that it was not possible for him to have all this 


07\ From BethleJmn to Calvary. 185 

world and a place in the ‘ new kingdom ’ too. I 
fear, father, that though he is rich in this life 
he is not 'rich toward God,’ and will therefore 
be poor in the life to come.” 

‘‘It is to be deplored that there are many 
such,” replied the father. 

“ Jesus then said to his apostles, ‘ Verily I say 
unto you that a rich man shall hardly enter into 
the kingdom of heaven, and again I say unto 
you it is easier for a camel to go through the 
eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into 
the kingdom of God.’ When his apostles heard 
this they exclaimed, ‘ Who then can be saved ? * 
Jesus answered, ‘With men this is impossible, 
but with God all things are possible.’ Dost 
thou take in his full meaning, my father? that 
which keepeth man away from God is the heart, 
and if that be sinful man cannot of his own 
agency make it righteous.” 

“Aye, I understand it ; that part is God’s 
work ; man’s part is to earnestly long for a 
change of heart and give himself up entirely to 
God’s will; then, that which is an impossibility 
for him to accomplish will be possible for God 
to do.” 

“Tea, that is what I believe he meant. Then 
Peter, who is always the first one to speak, said, 
‘ Behold, we have forsaken all and followed 


186 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


thee; what shall we have therefore?’ Jesus 
answered, ‘ Yerily I say unto you, that ye which 
have followed me in this regeneration, when 
the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his 
glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, 
judging the twelve tribes of Israel, and every 
one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or 
sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or chil- 
dren, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive 
a hundred fold and shall inherit everlasting life, 
but many that are first shall be last and the last 
shall be first.’ ” 

“ What meaneth he by the first being last and 
the last first ? ” asked the father. 

‘‘ He explained it to us by the parable of a 
man who needed laborers to work in his vine- 
yard, in the early morning, he hired some, 
agreeing to give them a penny a day, he went 
out the third, sixth, ninth, and eleventh hours 
and each time employed others, sending them 
into his vineyard, saying he would give them 
whatsoever was right. When evening came, 
those that were employed last he paid first, 
giving to each one a penny, and as he paid a 
like amount to each one of those he had hired 
first they murmured and thought he should 
have given them more, as they had toiled all 
day, but he said unto one of them, ‘ Friend, I 


or^ From Bethlehem to Calvary. 187 

do thee no wrong, didst thou not agree with me 
for a penny? take that thine is, and go thy 
way; I will give unto this -last even as unto 
thee, is it not lawful for me to do what I will 
with mine own ? is thine eye evil because I am 
good? so the last shall be first, and the first 
last : for many be called, but few chosen.’ ” 

‘‘I see it now, the vineyard is the world, 
where God expects us to work for him, and he 
looks at the incentive which prompts each 
laborer to do work ; if it be only from the hope 
of meed, that one toils all day, then, in God’s 
estimation, such an one is not entitled to more 
than another who works only a few hours, but 
who has sufficient love for God to labor without 
recompense, or to take only such as, in God’s 
judgment, he may deserve.” 

“Yea, father, yet we can hardly call the re- 
compense a meed, it is a reward, more of a gift, 
we receive at God’s hands, but if one serves 
him devotedly and truly he will reckon him first 
in honor, though he be called to that service 
only a little while.” 

“My son, thou didst enjoy a wonderful privi- 
lege when thou walked with the Messiah and 
hadst instruction from his lips. I wish I too 
could have been a witness to the amazing things 
that thou hast seen.” 


188 Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

“I heartily wish thou couldst, seeing with 
one’s eyes is better than hearing of what others 
have seen ; many more will have cause to remem- 
ber that journey; Jesus scattered blessings all 
along the route, we, who were with him, could 
not understand why he was so determined to 
go to Jerusalem ; he had been driven out as it 
seemed from there, the rabbis and Pharisees 
we knew were waiting their opportunity to seize 
him, and while on the way he told the apostles 
again, having done so twice before, ‘ Behold, we 
go up to Jerusalem ; and the Son of man shall 
be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the 
Scribes, and they shall condemn him to the 
Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify 
him; and the third day he shall rise again.’ I 
could not perceive it then, but now it is all 
plain — he is going a willing sacrifice for the 
sins of the people.” 


CHAPTEE XXV. 


J ESUS, Master, I pray thee grant our re- 
quest.” 

The voice was that of a woman ; the place, 
the highway to Jericho. Jesus was walking 
somewhat in advance of his apostles, his friends 
who accompanied him, and the many pilgrims 
who, being also on their way to Jerusalem to 
attend the Passover, had joined them. Look- 
ing at the speaker, he saw the mother of James 
and John, with her sons. 

“ What wilt thou ? ” he kindly inquired. 
“Grant,” she replied, “that these my two 
sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and 
the other on the left, in thy kingdom.” 

The heart of the mother had not lost its 
worldly ambition. Her two sons and Peter, 
she felt sure, were more beloved by Jesus than 
were the other apostles; and it was hard for 
her to rid her mind of the old Israelitish idea 
that the Messiah would reign as an. earthly 
king. Although his friends were so dull of 
comprehension as to their Master’s mission, 
before his eyes was looming up the cross that 
was in waiting for him at the close of his ca- 
189 


190 Ezekiel of Bethlehem; 

l-eer, not a crown of earthly principalities; and 
each day he was nearing that cross step by 
step. 

“Ye know not what ye ask,” Jesus sadly re- 
plied. Turning to his two apostles, he contin- 
ued : “Are ye able to drink of the cup that I 
shall drink of, and to be baptized with the 
baptism that I am baptized with ? ” 

Both of them confidently replied, “We are 
able.” 

“Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be 
baptized with the baptism that I am baptized 
with : but to sit on my right hand and on my 
left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to 
them for whom it is prepared of my Father.” 

The other apostles were curious to know 
what Salome and her sons were talking about 
to Jesus. When they found out what she had 
requested of him, they were very indignant at 
James and John; but Jesus called all of the 
twelve around him, and again explained to 
them the difference between the nature of his 
kingdom and the kingdoms of the earth. 

“Ye know,” he said, “that the princes of the 
Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they 
that are great exercise authority upon them. 
But it shall not be so among 3 ^ou : but whoso- 
ever will be great among you, let him be your 


or^ From Bethlehem to Calvary. 191 

minister; and whosoever will be chief among 
you, let him be your servant : even as the Son 
of man came not to be ministered unto, but to 
minister, and to give his life a ransom for 
many.” 

They were now not far from Jericho. It was 
near noonday; the warm sunlight was shim- 
mering down through the trees that bordered 
the road to that city; beneath the spreading 
branches of one tree two beggars sat upon the 
green grass, waiting for the pittance that char- 
ity prompted passers-by to bestow upon them. 

“ Methinketh,” said one, “that not many per- 
sons are going this way this morn, albeit ’tis al- 
most Passover time.” 

“Mine ears have told me that only compa- 
nies of two or three each have been upon the 
road. But list! more than that number are 
coming now. Hearest thou not the tramping 
of the animals?” 

“Aye, and the voices of the men, also. Thus 
far in the day our supply of coin hath been 
woefully small, but, from the murmuring in the 
air which greeteth mine ears, methinketh there 
may be many amid the coming throng who will 
each fling a denarius to two blind beggars.” 

“ Yea. Mayhap they are going into the city 
to trade; but what would such a little coin 


192 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


benefit in their barter? It would be better to 
give it to us, Bartimeus ; far better. It meaneth 
food for the beggar. Is it not so, my friend?’* 

“Aye, that is the best we get in this world; 
truly, I might almost say that it is all we get ; 
and not too much of that, either.” 

“Ho! good fellow!” cried the other beggar, 
thus halting a traveller who was in advance of 
the approaching crowd, “who cometh this 
way?” 

“’Tis the Nazarene, Jesus.” 

At the traveller’s reply all thoughts of gain 
left the blind men’s minds. 

“The Nazarene! Dost hear, Bartimeus?” 

“Yea; he whom they call ‘the Master.’ ” 

“ ‘ The Master ’ ! He is more than that. He 
hath the gift of healing. Thou knowest what 
that meaneth to us, my friend.” 

“Sight? Dost thou mean sight? ” 

“Yea. Oh! to see the glorious sunlight 
shining through the palm trees! How it cheer- 
.eth one’s heart to feel it streaming down ! But 
to see it! Oh! what must the sensation be! 
Bartimeus, we must make our way to this 
Jesus.” 

“Will not the throng about him keep him 
Irom seeing us? Thou forgettest that we are 
jonly beggars ; blind ones at that.” 


or, From Bethlehem to Calvary. 193 

“Surely they are at hand, Bartimeus. Let 
us cry out; mayhap he will hear us.” 

Springing to their feet, and by the aid of 
their stout staves feeling their way into the 
middle of the road, the blind men shouted, 
“Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of Da- 
vid!” 

“Cease thy babbling!” came from one in 
the crowd. “Ye are bereft of manners to so 
cry out when the Master speaketh.” 

This speech did not silence the beggars. 
Determined, if possible, to be heard by Jesus, 
they persistently cried, “Have mercy on us, O 
Lord, thou Son of David ! ” 

Suddenly Jesus stood still. The accompany- 
ing crowd halted also, each eagerly looking to- 
ward him to see what he would do. 

“Bring them hither,” he commanded. 

One in the crowd, nearer the blind men 
than the others, approaching them, said : “ Be 
of good comfort, rise : he calleth you.” 

Flinging aside their outer garments, lest they 
impede their progress, the blind men sprang 
forward, and, guided by the voice of Jesus, fell 
at his feet. 

“ What will ye that I shall do unto you ? ” 

“Lord,” they beseechingly cried, “that our 
eyes may be opened ! ” 

13 


194 


Ezekiel of BetTilehem ; 


Stretching forth his hands, Jesus compas- 
sionately touched the sightless eyes, and, lo ! the 
darkness was gone, and in its stead they beheld 
a face so divinely lovely bending over them 
that they could do naught else than follow him. 

Again Jesus and the crowd moved on toward 
Jericho. As at Capernaum the trade between 
the interior and the seacoast centered, so at Jeri- 
cho did the import and export trade between 
the rich countries upon both sides of the Jor- 
dan ; and as a strong force of officials was re- 
quired at Capernaum to collect the customs in 
the northern section of Palestine, so at Jericho 
a like number was required* to collect customs 
in the southern part of the country. After 
entering the gate of the city, while passing 
through one of its streets, Zaccheus, the chief 
"^among the publicans, a very small man, saw 
the advancing people, and, having heard of 
the fame of Jesus, was anxious to see him. 
To do so he climbed into a sycamore tree. 
As Jesus, surrounded by the crowd, passed 
under the tree, he looked up and said: “Zac- 
cheus, make haste, and come down; for to-day 
I must abide at thy house.” 

Zaccheus joyfully obeyed the command. 
What an honor it would be for him to enter- 
tain such a guest ! But the crowd uttered 


195 


or^ From Bethlehem to Calvary. 

Tvords of astonishment that Jesus should be- 
mean himself so much as to accept the hospi- 
tality of a man whom they considered a sinner. 
The old spirit of self-righteousness that had, in 
every other place where Jesus had been, mani- 
fested itself among the people, making them 
antagonistic to him and to his teachings, had 
followed him to Jericho. 

Zaccheus could not fail to hear the unpleas- 
ant remarks ; and, standing before Jesus, after 
having entered his house, he said : “ Lord, the 
half of my goods I give to the poor : and if I 
have taken anything from any man by false 
accusation, I restore him fourfold.” 

Jesus knew that it was more than respect 
which prompted this official of the Koman gov- 
ernment, although an Israelite, to address him 
as ‘‘Lord.” Looking kindly upon him, he ap- 
provingly said : “ This day is salvation come to 
this house, forasmuch as he also is a son of 
Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek 
and to save that which was lost.” 


CHAPTER XXVL 


"A yTAHLAH,” said Naomi, “what thinkest 
IV 1 thou of the word pictures, as Ezekiel 
calleth them, in which Jesus teacheth the peo- 
ple?” 

“Naught showeth his wisdom more, my sis- 
ter, how else could they understand that which 
he would have them learn ? ” 

“Truly they are suited to each person’s com- 
prehension — ^what could the more readily bring 
the lesson home to his hearers than that one 
about the sower who went forth to scatter seeds, 
some of which fell by the wayside, some among 
stones, some among the thorns and briers, and 
some in good ground ? ” 

“Aye, the seed representeth the word of God 
which is sown in one’s heart; that which fell 
by the wayside, is the word coming to those 
who are slow of understanding, and whilst they 
heed it not the evil one draweth near and, by 
his wiles, taketh out the good sown in their 
hearts. The seed which fell among stones, is 
the word coming to those who receive it 
gladly and think they shall keep it forever, 
but they know not their own strength, for when 
196 


OT^ From Bethlehem, to Calvary. 197 

trials cometh to them on account of their ad- 
herence to the word, they fall away, because their 
faith hath no depth of root. The seed which 
fell among thorns, is the word coming to those 
that are willing to receive it, but the tempta- 
tions of the world and its cares soon check the 
growth of good in their hearts and naught re- 
sulteth but a barren stalk ; but the seed which 
fell upon good ground is the word coming to 
those hearts that are ready, waiting for it, and 
after receiving they nourish and care for it, so 
that it blossoms and bears the fruit of loving 
words and kindly deeds.” 

‘‘And the sower is the Son of God, Jesus 
himself ! ” 

“Tea, and Ezekiel saith, after he taught the 
lesson of the sower and the seed, he portrayed 
the kingdom of God, because those who believe 
that Jesus is the Son of God and hath come to 
plant the word in their hearts and be for them 
a Saviour shall become citizens of that king- 
dom.” 

“Aye, in one of those pictures, he is again 
the sower of good seed, and the field is the 
world ; the good seed are they who, believing 
on him, are striving, through the grace of God, 
to become citizens of his kingdom, the tares 
found amidst the good seed are they who love 


198 Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

not the word of God and care naught for his 
commandments or teaching, but our God al- 
loweth them to live and grow along with the 
good seed, till the harvest cometh at the end of 
the world, then they shall be reaped by the 
angels and destroyed, whilst the good seed 
shall be gathered home to the kingdom of 
their Father.” 

“Aye, but could aught be more beautiful 
than what Jesus saith of the lost sheep, which 
had strayed away from the fold ? ” 

“’Tis the sinner he meant who wandereth 
away from the teachings of our God, and he 
who is the Good Shepherd goeth after, follow- 
ing through many devious ways, until he findeth 
the lost one and taketh it in his arms and 
beareth it to the fold, by which he meaneth the 
kingdom of God, that shall resound with notes 
of rejoicing as the angels welcome home the 
saved sinner! As thou sayest, my sister, it is 
truly beautiful, yet I can scarcely tell which 
one of his pictures is the most so, Ezekiel hath 
described so many to us and each one hath its 
charms.” 

“Yea, and almost all of them are about the 
heavenly kingdom this Jesus seeks to estab- 
lish.” 

“List, dost thou not hear the children com- 


or^ From Bethlehem to Calvary, 199 

ing? Deborah couldst not have been at the 
old well, or they would have tarried there 
longer.” 

“If she were absent it must have been from 
some weightier cause than the weather, for I 
know not when I saw a more lovely day at the 
close of winter.” 

On reaching home, the children told that 
they, with the other expectant ones, failed to 
find Deborah at her accustomed place ; after 
patiently waiting some time, one of her little 
cousins came to tell them that she was ill, they 
then returned to their different homes, hoping 
to see their friend on the succeeding day. Her 
absence was a disappointment to the children, 
but it was a greater one to Deborah to be 
unable to be with them. 

As soon as Mahlah heard of the blind girl’s 
illness, she hastened to her bedside. Days and 
weeks of solicitude ensued, during which Mah- 
lah never relaxed her vigil. Sometimes she 
made delicate broths to tempt the invalid’s ap- 
petite; again, she talked with her, and told her 
whatever news she thought would interest her. 
She did not appear to tire, but was ever ready 
to give pleasure to the sick girl, often bringing 
her a flower wet with the morning dew to cheer 
her with its fragrance. 


'200 


Ezekiel of Bethlehevi ; 


Instead of Deborah gaining strength, she 
gradually became weaker, until no hope of her 
recovery was entertained by her relatives and 
friends. One day she said : “If I only had a 
cool drink from the dear old well, Mahlah ! ” 

“I shall get it for thee, Deborah.” 

“Nay, I mean not that. Thou art so kind to 
me, Mahlah, and wouldst gratify me, I know ; 
but what thou wouldst bring would not taste so 
sweet as though I were down at the well’s side 
and heard the splash of the jar as it touched 
the water.” 

For a little while she lay in silence; then, 
“Mahlah,” she asked, “saith not Jesus, ‘I will 
give thee living water ’ ? ” 

“Yea, Deborah, and ‘he that drinketh of it 
shall never thirst again.’ ” 

“ ‘ Never thirst ? ’ ” repeated the sick girl. 

“ ‘ For it shall be in him a well of water 
springing up into everlasting life,’ ” continued 
Mahlah. 

“My earthly life is fading, fading away.” 

“Yea; but, Deborah, thou hast drunk of the 
‘living water,’ and thine will be the ‘everlast- 
ing life.’ ” 

Neither of them spoke again for a short time, 
and then Deborah broke the silence by saying : 
“The time draweth nigh for the Passover. 


201 


or^ From Bethlehem to Calvary. 

Dost remember, Mahlali, thou wast to take me 
to Jerusalem, that Jesus might give me back 
my sight?” 

“Yea, Deborah.” 

“He will be there, but I shall never stand 
within its walls.” 

A few days after this conversation the balmy 
air blew softly into the chamber where the sick 
girl lay. As it fanned her fevered cheek she 
said : “ The air, with its perfumed breath, com- 
eth refreshingly to me.” 

“ Flowers are everywhere waking to life ; the 
fields and roadsides are all ablaze with scarlet 
poppies, tulips, and white daisies, while the 
starry blossom I highly prize, nestling down at 
the feet of all this loveliness, hath opened its 
snowy petals,” returned Mahlah. 

“It is ever so at the time of the Passover. 
It is only one week off, Mahlah, is it not?” 

“One week, Deborah. Speaking tires thee 
too much ; I will talk to thee.” 

Then Mahlah told her of Jesus and his love 
for sinners. When Mahlah ceased speaking 
the sick girl closed her eyes in sleep. An hour 
passed by; Deborah moved, then opened her 
sightless eyes, and turned them toward her 
friend. 

Mahlah leaned over, and, taking Deborah’s 


202 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


hand in hers, said: “What is it, Deborah? 
Thou hast had a sweet sleep.” 

“Oh! Mahlah,” she faintly replied, “I 
dreamed I saw — the little king — thou hast so 
often — told me about ” 

“Believest thou, Deborah, that he, who was 
once worshipped by the ‘ wise men ’ as the King 
of the Jews, hath come as the Eedeemer of his 
people ? ” 

“Yea, Mahlah, I believe.” 

“Ah! dear, the time will not be long, me- 
thinketh, ere thou shalt in truth see ‘ the King 
in his beauty.’ ” 

Presently Deborah appeared to sleep again, 
but faster and faster became her respiration. 
The coming into the room of her aunt and two 
little cousins did not disturb her. Seating 
themselves near, they all silently watched her, 
a prayer for the dying girl going up from Mah- 
lah’s heart. Suddenly the silence was broken, 
“Mahlah,” the blind girl gasped, “I see him! 
I see him! — my Saviour! — my Eedeemer! — 
Jesus! — the Chr — ist!” 

Mahlah’s tears fell fast for her young friend. 
She thought, “ How much the children of the 
town will miss her! for she hath filled a niche 
in life among them that none other could fill. 
But for her what a blissful release ! No longer 


203 


or^ From Bethlehem to Calvary. 

groping in darkness, her soul bath ascended to 
her heavenly Father’s home, there to await the 
first resurrection morn, when, together wdth all 
those who have believed in Jesus the Christ, 
her glorified, beautiful, immortal body will rise 
from the grave.” 

The doctrine' of a resurrection was to Mah- 
lah a familiar one, vague as was her idea of 
the wonderful mystery. She had firm faith in 
the words she had at one time heard had fallen 
from the lips of Jesus : “Thy brother shall rise 
again. I am the resurrection and the life : he 
that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet 
shall he live : and whosoever liveth and believ- 
eth in me shall never die.” 

Unconsciously the leaven of the teaching . of 
Jesus was working in the humble home at 
Bethlehem. Gentle words and helping hands, 
the tear for the sorrowing and bread for the 
starving, all proved it. Even the aged father, 
stubborn in his adherence to the old-time be- 
liefs, felt its softening power. The adamant of 
prejudice encasing his heart was breaking, and 
through the fissures shone the blessed light 
that streamed out from the life and teaching 
of the Son of God. 

Ezekiel, who had not yet returned from his 
journey to Perea, was missed by all the family. 


204 


Ezehiel of Bethlehem; 


They consoled themselves, however, for his ab- 
sence by believing that he was doing what he 
liked best of all things to do, following his es- 
teemed Master. The Passover being so near 
at hand, they hoped to have him soon at home 
with them, as they fully expected that Jesus 
would attend the feast. 


CHAPTEK XXVIL 


I T was the third hour of the day. The long 
stretch of sandy shore at Capernaum lav 
gleaming in the sun. The boats that had 
been out all night had come in long ago, and 
their cargoes of fish had been disposed of. 
Zebedee and Ben-Ezra sat upon the beach 
mending their net. During the night they had 
been very successful, so much so that the large 
number of fishes they caught had been a great 
strain on the net, and the meshes were broken 
in several places. 

‘‘Dost thou not think the sun is becoming 
too hot to mend the net now, Zebedee?” in- 
quired Ben-Ezra. 

“ It is hot, lad, but we cannot use our pleas- 
ure about it ; the net has to be done,” returned 
Zebedee. 

“Tea, I know that. I see not how we hap- 
pen to be so late this morning. We arrived at 
home in good time, and I supplied my custom- 
ers as early as usual.” 

“ It is even so ; yet we are almost the last of 
the men to be here. The others have gone to 
their homes.” 


205 


206 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


“It is bothersome work mending, mending 
every day. I like it not.” 

“I have told thee before this, Ben-Ezra, that 
one cannot always have choice of one’s work. 
Thou considerest repairing the rents a thing of 
little consequence; but how thinkest thou it 
would do not to repair them ? ” 

“I think we should lose many fishes,” re- 
plied Ben-Ezra, laughing at the idea. 

“Thou art correct in thy surmise. So is it 
with life, lad, as with the net. If one mendeth 
not the rents in one’s character made by wrong- 
doing, the neglect maketh the matter worse, 
and one loseth, possibly, whatever of good one 
hath; but if one striveth to make amends for 
one’s wrong-doing, and thereby to repair the 
rents as we restore the net, then the good that 
one already hath will be retained. Bemember, 
lad, character is all that one can take with one 
to the other world.” 

“ Now art thou moralizing, Zebedee.” 

“ It harmeth thee not, lad, to hear the truth.” 

“How I wish this net were finished!” said 
Ben-Ezra, drawing the twine through with a jerk. 

“Patience, patience, lad! Thou wilt find it 
will greatly aid thee with thy task.” 

“ When the sun shineth so hotly one forget- 
teth to have patience.” 


or, From Bethlehem to Calvary. 207 

‘‘Thou mightest be thankful that it is not 
the shining of a summer sun, but only that of 
spring. Thou seemest out of sorts to-day.” 

“Nay, I am regaining mine equilibrium; for, 
behold, I am actually about finishing the last 
broken mesh.” 

“Thou hast wrought well to have accom- 
plished so much, which is more to thy credit, 
lad, as thou didst dislike the task,” said Zebe- 
dee. 

“We shall soon have a little holiday from 
fishing,” said Ben-Ezra. 

“Yea, when we go to the Passover; the time 
for it approaoheth.” 

“Zebedee, then we shall see Jesus, for surely 
he will be there.” 

“ Yea, lad, I doubt not he will be there. He 
hath been in Perea lately.” 

“ What a pity it is that so many persons in 
Capernaum have rejected him as the Messiah! 
I know not how they can be such ingrates, 
w'hen he performed all those mighty miracles 
here.” 

“ Yea, lad, it is a poor return for all the good 
he did them. Look about thee, and see what 
a beautiful world this is ; and yet how ungrate- 
ful and contrary are some of the people in it! 
They are too stubborn to open their eyes to 


208 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem : 


take in the beauty, just as the people here were 
too prejudiced and self-willed to open their 
hearts to let in ‘the light of the world’ when 
he came to them.” 

“I should like to be always with him, to fol- 
low him as do James and John, Peter and An- 
drew, and mine Uncle Philip. Thou wouldst 
suffer me to go, good Zebedee, wouldst thou 
not ? ” said the boy. 

“Yea, Ben-Ezra. But those whom thou 
namest, and the rest of the twelve, were chosen 
by Jesus to be always with him. Thou know- 
est he hath a work for them to do, and is pre- 
paring them for it.” 

“I know it. Yet they are not the only ones 
who are with him. Others follow him, and 
learn words of wisdom and love from his lips; 
and I would be one of them, if thou wouldst 
permit me to go.” 

“Aye, lad, I would not keep thee from learn- 
ing the way to the heavenly kingdom. Many, 
as thou sayest, follow him; and why shouldst 
not thou do likewise ? ” 


CHAPTER XXVIIL 


H OW grateful to Jesus was the sweet rest 
that awaited him at the home of his 
cherished friends, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, 
on that sixth day before the Passover. The 
walk that morning, of fifteen miles, from Jericho 
to Bethany had been a wearisome one, as it 
was a gradual ascent all the way. The larger 
part of the crowd which accompanied him con- 
tinued on to Jerusalem, Ezekiel with them, who, 
upon reaching Jerusalem, left his fellow-travel- 
lers and took the well-known path to Bethle- 
hem. 

A large number of Jews from Jerusalem and 
others who had gone there for the feast, all 
.filled with curiosity to see not only Jesus, but 
Lazarus also, went to Bethany and crowded 
into the house where he was. This so infuri- 
ated the chief priests that they deliberated upon 
the advisibility of putting to death Lazarus, as 
well as Jesus. 

Jesus had arrived in Bethany the day before 
the Sabbath — and now the last Sabbath he was 
ever to spend in that friendly shelter over, he and 
his few followers left for Jerusalem on the mom- 


14 


209 


210 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


ing of the tenth of Nisan which was our Sab- 
bath, but the Monday of the Jews. This time 
it was his intention to enter the Holy City as a 
king; he knew how few were the days remain- 
ing for him on earth, but they must be days in 
which he would proclaim to the assembled multi- 
tudes composed of people from every part of 
Israel and Hebrews from foreign lands, the glad 
tidings of salvation through him, their Messiah, 
and once more offer himself to them and to the 
world at large, as their Saviour and Redeemer. 

He sent two of his apostles into Bethpage, a 
town upon the opposite side of the Mount of 
Olives from Bethany, for an ass which he told 
them they would find there, tied, and her colt 
with her. 

“Loose them,” he said, “and bring them to 
me, and if any man say aught unto you ye 
shall say. The Lord hath need of them.” 

When the animals were brought, the apostles 
spread their outer garments upon the colt 
“whereon yet never man sat,” and placed Jesus 
thereon ; which manner of riding, in itself, 
bespoke his royal birth. The procession was 
constantly augmented by detachments of stran- 
gers, who were encamped outside the walls of 
Jerusalem, crowds also of Galileans came forth 
from the city to meet him, with whom was 


OT^ Ftotyi Bethlehem to Calvary. 211 

Ezekiel, who had left Bethlehem before day- 
light, desiring to reach Jerusalem in time to 
witness the entry of Jesus into that city, where 
Ezekiel arrived as the Galileans were making 
their exit through the gate and gladly joined 
his many acquaintances among them. 

Along the way palm trees were growing, and 
the enthusiastic crowd broke off the graceful 
sprays and waved them aloft as they shouted : 
“Hosanna to the Son of David: blessed is he 
that cometh in the name of the Lord : hosanna 
in the highest.” 

Others flung down their garments on the 
dusty road before him. 

“ What a grand ovation to our king is this,” 
said Ezekiel to a man beside him, “rememberest 
thou what Zechariah said, ‘Bejoice greatly, O 
daughter of Zion, behold thy king cometh unto 
thee with justice and salvation, lowly and riding 
upon an ass and upon a colt, the foal of an 
ass.’ ” 

“Tea, but hearest thou those Pharisees say- 
ing, ‘ Master, rebuke thy disciples,’ it* is gall 
and wormwood to them to hear the multitude 
hail him as it doth, but list ye to our Messiah’s 
answer to them, ‘ I tell you that if these should 
hold their peace, the stones would immediately 
cry out ’ ” 


212 Ezekiel of Bethleh em ; 

A turn in the road brought Jerusalem in 
sight ; glittering in the sunlight stood the tem- 
ple of white marble and gold, built by Herod, 
as an expiation for the murders of Mariamne 
and the great rabbis, upon the site of the world- 
famous structure of Solomon that had been 
destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and afterward 
replaced by the one built by Zerubbabel ; the 
magnificent palace also erected by Herod the 
Great, the costly public buildings and the man- 
sions of the rich all lay before them a wealth of 
splendor, a superb picture. For almost twenty 
centuries Jerusalem had stood, and to the Ju- 
dean masses it must have seemed indestructible 
and everlasting; not so to Jesus, his divinity 
obliterated time. On this spring morning he 
looked forward through the ages and saw the 
terrible doom which awaited the Holy City for 
its rejection of him, and weeping he said : “ If 
thou hadst known, even thou at least in this 
thy day, the things which belong unto thy 
peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. 
For the days shall come upon thee, that thine 
enemies shall cast a trench about thee and 
compass thee round, and keep thee in on every 
side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, 
and thy children within thee: and they shall 
not leave in thee one stone upon another; 


I 

I 

9 


I 







9 


or, From Bethlehem to Calvary. 213 

because thou knewest not the time of thy 
visitation.” 

On, on the jubilant company swept, past 
Gethsemane, over the bridge across the Kedron 
in through a gate that pierced the great wall 
standing around the city, up through the em- 
blazoned streets to the sacred temple; every- 
where greeted by the eager question : “ Who is 
this that cometh? ” who is this king?” 

In tones that rent the air, the crowd sent 
back the answer: “This is Jesus, the prophet 
of Nazareth of Galilee ! ” 

But from Ezekiel and the other lovers of 
Jesus rang out the soul-thrilling words : “ This 
is Jesus the Messiah, our rightful king!” 

Stopping at the temple gate, Jesus dis- 
mounted and went into the building, while 
those who accompanied him into the city 
hastily took off their sandals and laid aside 
their staves, preparatory to following him 
within the consecrated precincts, where the 
money-changers and persons who sold doves 
had again established their tables. Indignant 
at this desecration, after he had once before 
driven them thence, he overturned their tables 
and said: “It is written my house shall be 
called the house of prayer, but ye have made 
it a den of thieves.” 


214 Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

The surging crowd about him with varied 
demonstrations of delight, the pitiful cries for 
mercy from the lame, the blind and diseased 
who had been brought to him, together with 
the glad shouts of “Hosanna! Hosanna!” from 
the children, aroused the displeasure of the 
chief priests and scribes. 

“Hearest thou,” they sa-id to Jesus, “what 
these say ? ” 

Jesus replied, “Yea; have ye never read, 
out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou 
hast perfected praise ? ” 

As the last hour of the day drew near, Jesus 
left the temple and retired with his apostles to 
Bethany to spend the night ; while Ezekiel went 
out the gate toward Bethlehem, and in due 
time was at home surrounded by his loved 
ones. 

“ The rulers of the different sects do not lay 
hands on Jesus, he passes freely in and out 
among them for they fear the people, if he ever 
be delivered into their hands, it certainly will 
be through some subtle way,” said Ezekiel, 
after he had given to his family a detailed ren- 
dering of the doings of the day. 

“How taketh the Romans his entrance into 
the city as a king ? ” inquired his father. 

“At first they were apprehensive of an insur- 


(?/*, From Bethlehem to Calvary. 215 

rection, such as thou knowest we have often 
had, but when they saw our Messiah’s mission 
was not a warlike one, but one of love and 
peace, their alarm was dispelled.” 


CHAPTEK XXIX. 


HE following morning Ezekiel walked 



from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, and, hav- 
ing entered the temple, he found Jesus in one 
of its courts. Presently some of the chief 
priests, and also some of the scribes and elders, 
approached him and inquired: “By what 
authority doest thou these things? and who 
gave thee this authority to do these things?” 

Jesus answered by asking them : “ The bap- 
tism of John, was it from heaven, or of men? 
answer me.” 

Ezekiel saw that they were greatly confused, 
and he heard them arguing among themselves. 
One said : “ If we shall say, ‘ From heaven,’ he 
will ask us, ‘Why then did ye not believe 
him?’” 

“Oh!” said another, “we cannot say, ‘Of 
men,’ because there are too many persons 
about who believed John a great prophet.” 

“Let us, then,” spoke a third one, “say, 
‘We cannot tell.’ ” 

This advice was taken, and when they all 
made reply, “We cannot tell,” Jesus said to 
216 


217 


From Bethlehem to Calvary. 

them, ‘‘ Neither do I tell you by what author- 
ity I do these things.” 

Crestfallen, they left him, and, turning to 
the multitudes around him, Jesus spoke many 
parables to them. 

Again and again deputations from the differ- 
ent sects were sent to him propounding ques- 
tions, hoping in his answers to find something 
whereby to compromise him with the authori- 
ties either of church or state. They even sent 
men to personate just men. Their part was to 
lead him into snares, if possible, and thus to 
supply a pretext for delivering him into the 
power of the governor for punishment. One 
of the latter class came to him with words of 
flattery, and inquired, “Is it lawful for us to 
give tribute unto Cesar, or no ? ” 

Jesus saw through the deceit, and said, 
“Why tempt ye me? show me a penny.” 

As he took the coin from the hand of his 
questioner, he said : “ Whose image and super- 
,scription hath it?” 

“ Cesar’s,” was the answer. 

Handing back the penny to its owner, Jesus 
said : “ Bender therefore unto Cesar the things 
which be Cesars, and unto God the things which 
be God’s.” 

After Jesus had silenced the Sadducees in 


218 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem; 


their debate with him regarding the resurrec- 
tion of the dead, the Pharisees who were pre- 
sent consulted together about interrogating 
him. Finally, one of the scribes, a lawyer, 
propounded what he considered a test ques- 
tion : “ Master, which is the great command- 
ment in the law ? ” 

“ ‘ Hear, O Israel ; The Lord our God is one 
Lord : and thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and 
with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.* 
This is the first and great commandment. 
And the second is like unto it, ‘Thou shalt 
love thy neighbor as thyself.’ On these two 
commandments hang all the law and the pro- 
phets,” replied Jesus. 

The answer was not such as the Pharisees 
had expected. The difference between their 
interpretation of the law and that of Jesus was 
wide and deep. Their service toward God had 
of late years greatly degenerated. It was not 
now one so much of the heart, soul, and mind, 
as one of outward ceremonial and cold formal- 
ity, while Jesus avowed that the fundamental 
principle of the law was love, and that upon 
love the essence of all the prophecies depended. 
Nevertheless, the truth of Jesus’ words was so 
obvious that the skeptic was forced to exclaim : 


or, From Bethlehem to Calvary. 219 

“Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for 
there is one God; and there is none other but 
he: and to love him with all the heart, and 
with all the understanding, and with all the 
soul, and with all the strength, and to love his 
neighbor as himself, is more that ail whole 
burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 

Jesus tenderly said to him, “Thou art not 
far from the kingdom of God.” 

The Pharisees were so much astonished at 
the reply of Jesus to the scribe’s confession 
that no one presumed to question him further. 

Two days before the feast Jesus and his 
apostles sat in a place commanding a view of 
the treasury in the temple. Toward it all 
classes were going to deposit their dues. The 
rich, clad in gorgeous robes, cast in plentifully 
of their abundance; and those whose purses 
were not so well filled gave what they were re- 
quired by the law of Moses to contribute. 
While they watched the scene, a poor widow 
approached, and humbly threw into the treas- 
ury two mites. Though small the sum, she felt 
confident that her Lord knew it was all she 
had, and that she gave it willingly to be used 
in his service. She knew not that the eyes of 
Jesus were upon her, and that he read her 
thoughts; neither did she hear the words of 


220 


Ezekiel of Bethleli^ein ; 


praise, that fell from his lips regarding her : 
‘‘Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor 
widow hath cast in more than they all : for all 
these have of their abundance cast in unto the 
offerings of God: but she of her penury hath 
cast in all the living that she had.” 

Philip, who was standing next to Ezekiel, 
said, “ Come, let us go into some of the outer 
courts, and see whether there be any familiar 
faces among the new" arrivals.” 

In the court of the heathen were many from 
different countries who had been heathen, but 
were now proselytes to the Jewish religion. 
Among them was noticeable a group who spoke 
the Greek language, as did also all Jews living 
outside of Palestine. As Philip and Ezekiel 
drew near them, one of the strangers, address- 
ing Philip, said : “ Sir, we would see Jesus.” 

Philip departed from them to go in quest of 
Jesus and tell him of their desire, before find- 
ing him, however, he met Andrew and told 
him, together they went to Jesus, who accom- 
panied them to where Philip had left Ezekiel 
and the Greeks, as the latter w"ere debarred 
from entering into the inner court of the tem- 
ple. The babel of voices that sounded through 
the court of the heathen was hushed at the 
approach of Jesus — every eye was directed 


or. From Bethlehem to Calvary. 221 

toward him as each one listened for his 
words. 

“ The hour is come,” he began, “ that the Son 
of man should be glorified. Yerily, verily I 
say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into 
the ground and die, it abideth alone ; but if it 
die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that 
loveth his life shall lose it ; and he that hateth 
his life in this world shall keep it unto life 
eternal. If any man serve me, let him follow 
me ; and where I am, there shall also my ser- 
vant be; if any man serve me, him will my 
Father honor. Now is ray soul troubled; and 
what shall I say? Father, save me from this 
hour; but for this cause came I unto this hour. 
Father, glorify thy name.” 

Scarcely had the last word died upon his 
lips, when, lo! from above them came the sound 
of a mighty voice: “I have both glorified it, 
and will glorify it again.” 

“ List ! ” said one in the crowd, “ how it thun- 
dereth.” 

“An angel speaketh,” said another. 

“Nay,” said Ezekiel, “it is the voice of 
God.” 

“This voice,” said Jesus, “came not because 
of me, but for your sakes. Now is the judg- 
ment of this world ; now shall the prince of this 


222 Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from 
the earth, will draw all men unto me.” 

The people replied: “Our law saith that 
Christ abideth for ever and how sayest thou 
the Son of man must be lifted up ? that is the 
name we have been accustomed to call our 
Messiah, but who is this Son of man thou 
sayest must be lifted up ? ” 

Jesds answered: “Yet a little while is the 
light with you, walk while ye have the light, 
lest darkness come upon you ; for he that 
walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he 
goeth. While ye have light believe in the 
light^ that ye may be the children of 
light.” 

Gazing sorrowfully upon the crowd — so many 
of whom he knew rejected him as their Mes- 
siah — he quietly passed out of the sacred edi- 
fice, knowing that never again should he cross 
its threshold. Thus, in sadness and silence, he 
bade farewell to his Father’s earthly house, 
and taking the twelve with him went to the 
Mount of Olives. Sitting there with them, in 
a shady place, overlooking the city they had 
just left, he told them of the earthquakes, wars, 
famines, and all manner of troubles which 
should come upon the world, but they would 
be only the beginning of sorrows; that they, his 


oVj From Bethlehem to Calvary. 223 

chosen, should be delivered up to be afflicted, 
hated and killed for his name’s sake, that false 
Christs should surely arise and deceive many, 
he warned them against believing any of them, 
when they would say, “ The Son of man hath 
come.” “For,” he told them, “ as the lightning 
cometh out of the East and shineth even unto 
the W est : so shall also the coming of the Son 
of man be,” and “this gospel shall be preached 
in all the world, for a witness unto all nations; 
and then shall the end come. Watch there- 
fore; for ye know not what hour your Lord 
doth come, be ye also ready; for in such an 
hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh. 
Immediately after the tribulation of those days 
shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall 
not give her light, and the stars shall fall from 
heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be 
shaken, and then shall appear the sign of the 
Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the 
tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see 
the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven 
with power and great glory. And he shall 
send his angels with a great sound of a trum- 
pet and they shall gather together his elect 
from the four winds, from one end of heaven 
to the other.” 

Then he taught them the preeminent para- 


224 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


-bles of the ten virgins, the ten talents, and that 
of the last judgment day. 

After Jesus and his apostles had left the 
temple, Ezekiel felt some person touch him 
upon the arm, looking round he saw Lazarus, 
who said: “Ezekiel, thou must come home 
with me to-night ; we have made a supper for 
Jesus, our beloved friend, and we would have 
thee with us also.” 

Ezekiel gladly accepted the invitation and 
went with Lazarus to Bethany, passing Jesus 
and his apostles upon the Mount of Olives. 

When Jesus had concluded his lessons to 
the apostles they all followed Ezekiel and 
Lazarus to the supper, which Martha and 
Mary had prepared for their honored guest. 
Martha, ever busy with household affairs, 
served, while Lazarus was one of them who 
sat at the table with him. Mary, with light 
tread, went behind the guests, and kneeling at 
the feet of Jesus as he reclined at table re- 
moved the seal from an alabaster box she 
held, containing spikenard, the most expensive 
anointing oil of ancient times, and poured the 
perfume upon the feet of Jesus and wiped them 
with her hair. As the delightful odor filled the 
house, Ezekiel thought, “ how beautifully Mary’s 
tribute expresses the gratitude and love of the 


(?r, From Bethlehem to Calvary. 225 

family at Bethany for their Master,” when he 
heard Judas Iscariot say, “Why was not this 
ointment sold for three hundred pence and 
given to the poor ? ” 

“Ah,” thought Ezekiel, “what careth he for 
the poor? I like him not, his dark face is not 
a pleasant one to me.” 

His reverie was broken by the kindly words : 
“Let her alone; against the day of my burying 
hath she kept this, for the poor always ye have 
with you : but me ye have not always. Verily 
I say unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall 
be preached throughout the whole world, this 
also that she hath done shall be spoken of, for 
a memorial of her.” 

Ezekiel enjoyed the evening, but it passed 
too quickly for him. 

Finding the next morning that Jesus was not 
going into Jerusalem, but would remain in calm 
discourse with his twelve apostles, Ezekiel de- 
parted after breakfast for Bethlehem, intending 
to go thence with his father, wife, and sister the 
ensuing day to Jerusalem for the feast. 

Whilst Ezekiel was at home it did not occur 
to him that any harm would befall Jesus, whom 
he had left in the companionship of his chosen 
twelve, but the traitor Judas had stolen away 
from the little circle, perhaps when his feUow 
15 


226 Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

disciples were wrapped in sleep, and made a 
bargain with the high priests to deliver into 
their hands the one who had selected him, 
Judas, to be of his immediate adherents and 
whom he was in honor bound to love and 
obey; him, he would treacherously put into 
their power for the paltry sum of thirty silver 
pieces, the price paid for a slave. 


CHAPTEK XXX. 


“ I1IAKEWELL, mother; I wish that thou 

JJ couldst go with us,” said Ezekiel to his 
mother, who had come to the door to see the 
party off for Jerusalem in the gray of the fol- 
lowing morning. 

“I think thou hast enough with thee, my 
son. Moreover, I am needed here. Naomi, 
didst thou remember to take a parcel of thy 
bitter herbs with thee? Thou hast such good 
ones in the garden.” 

“Yea, mother, I have them with me.” 

Mahlah laughed. ^‘Why, mother,” she said, 

one would suppose none is to be had in the 
Holy City.” 

“Nay, daughter, I know they are to be pur- 
chased in plenty there; but in such a large 
gathering of people, all clamoring for them, 
they may become scarce ; so it is not amiss to 
take some of thy lettuce and endives with thee. 
Thine is surely better than any growing about 
here.” 

“ Now we must be off,” said the father. “ See 
how restless my grandson Jacob is becoming.” 

Jacob, who was standing beside the ass, now 
327 


228 


Ezehiel of Bethlehem ; 

looked toward the little group at the door and 
said : “ Oh ! do come ! Mother and Aunt Mah- 
lah, ye talk so long!” 

“It will bo a rare sight for Jacob,” said the 
grandmother. “This, his first Passover, will 
show to him that the Israelites are as ‘the 
sands on the seashore’ for numbers.” 

“Mother,” exclaimed Ezekiel, “that will not 
be all to astonish and enlighten him. Our Mes- 
siah will be there.” 

“ Thou sajest truly, son. A sight of him will 
far exceed all other sights combined.” 

“Come! come!” called Jacob, impatient at 
the delay. “ Father, why tarriest thou so 
long?” 

“I am ready now, son.” 

In a fe^w moments, the ass mounted by one 
of the party and the other members of it walk- 
ing, they started with happy hearts upon their 
short journey. In due time Jerusalem was 
reached, and they were warmly welcomed by 
the friends with whom they intended remain- 
ing during their stay in the city. 

Soon after their arrival, Ezekiel, his father, 
and their host, on their way to select a lamb 
for the Passover supper, met Peter and John, 
who had been sent by Jesus to prepare the 
supper for him and his apostles. Peter told 


or. From Bethlehem to Calvary. 229 

Ezekiel and liis companions that Jesus had 
given John and him directions as to finding the 
place in which to partake of the feast. “ Be- 
hold,” he said unto them, “ when ye are entered 
into the city, there shall a man meet you bear- 
ing a pitcher of water: follow him into the 
house where he entereth in. And ye shall say 
unto the good-man of the house, ‘The Master 
saith unto thee. Where is the guest-chambel*, 
where I shall eat the Passover with my disci- 
ples?’ And he shall show you a large upper 
room furnished : there make ready.” They had 
found the room, and were now in quest of the 
provisions. 

Down near the sheep-market Ezekiel saw a 
boy coming, apparently, from that place. His 
air bespoke freedom from anything annoying, 
and manifested a desire to see all that was 
worthy of being seen. 

“Surely,” said Ezekiel to those with him, “I 
should know that lad. His manner is very fa- 
miliar to me. Ah ! now I see,” as the lad came 
nearer, “ it is Ben-Ezra.” 

“What an adept thou art at recognizing thy 
friends!” said the boy, extending both hands 
to Ezekiel. “I overheard thy remark that it 
is I.” 

“The God of our fathers give thee peace, 


230 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


child of Galilee,” returned Ezekiel. ‘‘Happy 
am I to again see thee in Jerusalem.” 

“And happy am I to again be here, friend 
Ezekiel.” 

“There is a wonderful gathering of both men 
and women here.” 

“Mary of Nazareth, the mother of Jesus, 
hath come; and Mary of Magdala, Salome, the 
wife of Zebedee, and Mary, the wife of Clo^ 
pas, who have been for so long a time minis^ 
tering unto Jesus, are all here.” 

“ I shall see thee again, lad, and have further 
converse with thee. Mj companions are, I per- 
ceive, anxious to proceed on our way. Peace 
to thee,” said Ezekiel, as he passed on with his 
father and his host. 

Whilst the people in Jerusalem were eating 
their Passover supper, Jesus and his apostles 
were partaking of theirs in the friend’s house 
where Peter and John had prepared it. The 
apostles were overwhelmed with sorrow. How 
could they be otherwise when their beloved 
Master had told them that he would not be 
long with them? And now they had just heard 
him say: “With desire I have desired to eat 
this Passover with you before I suffer: for I 
say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, 
until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 


or^ From Bethlehem to Calvary. 231 

And, taking the cup of wine and water which 
was passed round the table at the commence- 
ment of the feast, he had said: “Take this, 
and divide it among yourselves : for I say unto 
you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, 
until the kingdom of God shall come.” 

Notwithstanding their distress, they con- 
tended with each other as to which should be 
accounted the greatest. Jesus rose from the 
table, laid aside his upper garment, and girt 
himself about with a towel. Pouring water 
into a basin, he washed the apostles’ feet, and 
wiped them upon “the towel wherewith he was 
girded.” When he came to Peter, that apostle 
said, “Lord, dost thou wash my feet?” 

“What I do thou knowest not now; but thou 
shalt know hereafter,” was the kindly reply of 
Jesus. 

Then Peter impetuously declared, “ Thou 
shalt never wash my feet ! ” 

Looking tenderly at him, Jesus said, “If I 
wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.” 

Wishing to show Jesus that he was his de- 
voted follower, Peter hastened to say, “Lord, 
not my feet only, but also my hands and my 
head.” 

After Jesus had finished, and resumed his 
outer garment, he said, “ Know ye what I have 


232 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord: 
and ye say well ; for so I am. If I then, your 
Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye 
also ought to wash one another’s feet.” 

Thus, not only by words, but by example, 
he taught them humility, and how important it 
is that each render kindly service one to an- 
other. 

Looking sadly round upon them, he ex- 
claimed: “Yerily, verily, I say unto you, that 
one of you shall betray me.” 

The words fell with startling force upon the 
little company. Betray him ! their adored, long- 
expected Messiah ! Could one among them be 
so base? Gazing questioningly at each other 
did not solve for them the mystery. Peter 
motioned to John, who was leaning upon his 
Master’s breast, to inquire whom he meant; 
while from the trembling lips of many about 
the table rose the cry, “Lord, is it I?” 

“He it is,” answered Jesus, “to whom I shall 
give a sop when I have dipped it.” 

Then he took a piece of the thin, unleavened 
bread, and, rolling it up, dipped it into the dish 
and handed it to Judas. 

The question of Judas, “Lord, is it I?” was 
superfluous, as he had already made his stipu- 
lation with the chief priests and with those 


or^ From Bethlehem to Calvary. 233 

captains of the Koman guard who had been 
detailed to render aid. 

“That thou doest, do quickly,” was the reply 
of Jesus to the guilty man, who immediately 
rose, and, without exchanging a word with 
those with whom he had been so long associ- 
ated, sullenly left the room. 

“Now,” said Jesus, “is the Son of man glo- 
rified, and God is glorified in him.” 

Calling his apostles “ little children,” he gave 
them a new commandment : “ That ye love one 
another ; as I have loved you, that ye also love 
one another. By this shall all men know that 
ye are my disciples, if he have love one to an- 
other.” 

The old dispensation must now give place to 
the new, which he had established, and would 
leave in their hands to spread its doctrines 
over all the world. They had just eaten the 
Passover supper, which was typical of him; 
and now, in remembrance of his life, what he 
had done and would yet do for them and for 
all men, he instituted another supper, which 
must be even more sacred to them than the 
Passover one had been. 

Taking bread, blessing and breaking it, Jesus 
gave it to his apostles, and said : “ Take, eat ; 
this is my body.” Then, taking the cup and 


234 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


giving thanks, he passed it to them, saying : 
•‘Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the 
new testament, which is shed for many for the 
remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will 
not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, 
until that day when I drink it new with you in 
my Father’s kingdom.” 

These eleven men were very dear to Jesus. 
In his touching words, “Do this in remem- 
brance of me,” he appealed to them not to for- 
get him ; not to forget how he, the Son of God, 
had lived with them and ever been their kindly 
Master and friend; not to forget the undying 
love he felt for them, and would evince for 
them when, in a short while, he would die in 
their stead, the innocent for the guilty : “ Greater 
love hath no man than this, that a man lay 
down his life for his friend.” 

Thus was instituted in that upper chamber 
in Jerusalem, on that April night, a sacrament 
grand in its very simplicity, which has ever 
since been regarded by Christians of every 
nation and clime as both a hallowed pleasure 
and a hallowed duty. ^ 

As Jesus sat calmly talking with them, it was 
difficult for Peter and the others to realize that 
he was so soon to leave them, notwithstanding 
he had repeated it to them again and again. 


or, From Bethlehem to Calvary. 235 

Peter said to him, “ Lord, whither goest thou ?” 

Jesus answered, “Whither I go, thou canst 
not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me 
afterward.” 

Peter, always impulsive, replied : “ Lord, why 
cannot I follow thee now ? I will lay down my 
life for thy sake.” 

Jesus gazed sadly at him as he replied, “ Wilt 
thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, 
verily, I say unto thee. The cock shall not crow, 
till thou hast denied me thrice.” 

He then strove to comfort them all by telling 
them not to be troubled; he was only going 
before them to prepare a place for them, “ that 
where I am, there ye may be also. And whither 
I go ye know, and the way ye know.” 

Thomas spoke : “ Lord, we know not whither 
thou goest, and how can we know the way ? ” 

Jesus said to him: “I am the way, the truth, 
and the life : no man cometh unto the Father, 
but by me.” 

“Lord,” said Philip, “show us the Father, 
and it sufficeth us.” 

Jesus looked reproachfully at him and said: 
“Have I been so long time with you, and yet 
hast thou not known me, Philip ? he that hath 
seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest 
thou then. Show us the Father? Believest thou 


236 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


not that I am in the Father, and the Father in 
me ? If je love me, keep my commandments. 
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth 
them, he it is that loveth me : and he that lov- 
eth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will 
love him, and will manifest myself to him.” 

“How is it. Lord, that thou wilt manifest 
thyself unto us, and not unto the world?” in- 
quired Judas Thaddeus. 

Jesus told him it was because they loved him 
and delighted in keeping his commandments, 
but that the world did not love him, therefore 
he could not dwell with those who loved him not. 

How singular it is, that even at the last, his 
cliosen disciples appeared to have so little re- 
alization of his true nature and mission ; but 
Jesus made allowance for their weakness of 
faith and promised to send the Comforter to 
them, to abide forever with them.. “Peace I 
leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not 
as the world giveth, give I unto you;” again 
he repeated, “Let not your heart be troubled, 
neither let it be afraid.” 

In such loving converse with the apostles 
were his last hours spent ; tender and true was 
his love for them, love that held them close to 
his heart, as the branches are held close to the 
vine upon which they are dependent for life 


0 /*, From Bethlehem to Calvary, 237 

and nourishment, they, his chosen, had been 
and always must continue to be dependent 
upon him for spiritual life and strength to live 
aright and accomplish the important work he 
should leave in their charge. 

When Jesus had ended talking to his apos* 
ties, he lifted his eyes to heaven and in the 
words: “Father, the hour is come, glorify thy 
Son, that thy Son may glorify thee,” began his 
sublime prayer for his saddened followers, who 
stood about him. “I pray not that thou 
shouldst take them out of the world, but that 
thou shouldst keep them from the evil.” 

His touching petition was not only for those 
around him, “ but for them also which believe 
on me, through their words ; and that the world 
may know that thou hast sent me, and hast 
loved them as thou hast loved me. Father, I 
will that they also whom thou hast given me be 
with me where I am, that they may behold my 
glory which thou hast given me ; for thou 
lovedst me before the foundation of the world. 
Oh ! righteous Father, the world hath not known 
thee ; but I have known thee, and these have 
known that thou hast sent me, and I have de- 
clared unto them thy name, and will declare it 
that the love wherewith thou hast loved me, 
may be in them, and I in them.” 


238 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem; 

The six Paslms, the one hundred and thir- 
teenth to the one hundred and eighteenth, con- 
stituted the Hallelujah anthem sung at the 
Passover and other feasts. The first part had 
already been rendered by the apostles, and 
after chanting the closing stanzas they silently, 
with heavy hearts, followed their Master out 
into the night, for the last time to the Mount 
of Olives, a spot consecrated by the frequent 
communions held there between the Father and 
the Son. 

An old olive orchard stood close by the path 
to Bethany ; its great trough in which the olives 
were trodden had been cut out of the solid rock, 
the juice extracted from the olives fiowing 
thence into a vat a short distance away ; this 
spot was known to all persons as Gethsemane 
or the “ oil press.” Here, away from the sounds 
of rejoicing which filled the city, amid the 
grateful calm and restfulness of nature, over- 
shadowed by olive trees, “emblems of peace,” 
the Saviour of the world sought strength for 
his coming trial. 

“ Sit ye here,” he said, “ while I go and pray 
yonder.” 

Taking with him Peter, James, and John, the 
three who were so closely connected with him 
and who had been witnesses of his transfigura- 


or^ From Bethlehem to Calvary, 239 

tion and heard the voice from out the cloud 
say, “This is my beloved Son, hear him,” he 
Went on further into the deeper shade and soli- 
tude. “My soul,” he said to them, “is exceed- 
ing sorrowful even unto death; tarry ye here 
and watch with me.” 

Going some little distance from them he fell 
upon his knees : “ Oh ! my Father, if it be possi- 
ble, let this cup pass,” he prayed. “ His sweat 
was as it were great drops of blood falling down 
to the ground.” 

As he saw the time approaching for the ter- 
rible shame and suffering he would voluntarily 
undergo, the agony was almost too intense 
for the human part of his nature to endure, 
but always obedient to his Father’s will, “ Hev- 
theless,” he continued, “not as I will, but as 
thou wilt.” 

Going over to the three apostles, he found 
them asleep. 

“ What! ” he reproachfully said, as he aroused 
Peter, “could ye not watch with me one hour? 
watch and pray that ye enter not into tempta- 
tion; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh 
is weak.” 

Leaving them, he the second time prayed : 
“ Oh ! my Father, if this cup may not pass away 
from me except I drink it, thy will bo done.” 


240 Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

. The second time he returned to them, they 
were again asleep. He went back and again 
the same petition rose from his heart. His 
Heavenly Father heard the prayers of his suf- 
fering Son, and, as at the commencement of 
that Son’s life-work, the Father sent holy angels 
to minister unto him, so at the close of it, 
angels again were sent to solace and comfort 
him. 

The third time when he returned to the three 
apostles they were sleeping again. Asleep in 
drear Gethsemane, while within a stone’s throw 
of them their Master and friend is wrestling in 
mortal conflict ; asleep, while the shadow of a 
mighty sorrow hangs over them ; asleep, while 
even now, the steady tramp, tramp of E-omau 
soldiery rings out upon the still air ; well might 
their Master sadly say to them, “ Sleep on now, 
and take your rest; behold the hour is at hand, 
and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands 
of sinners. Bise, let us be going; behold, he 
is at hand that doth betray me.*^ 


CHAPTEK XXXL 


T he Passover supper had been eaten by 
Ezekiel, his father, their host, other male 
members of the family, and Jacob, who, being 
the youngest at the table, had been the one 
according to the usual custom, to ask questions 
pertaining to the feast, when for the second 
time the cup of wine and water passed 
round. The hour was late, yet as the moon 
was full, the streets were well lighted, so Eze- 
kiel could not resist the temptation to walk 
about the city. Presently he saw a crowd of 
men turning down one of the streets leading 
out of Jerusalem; curiosity prompted him to 
follow them ; as he drew nearer he discovered 
they were some of the “temple police,” a band 
of soldiers, some priests and their servants, who 
were carrying flambeaux, which, Ezekiel after- 
ward found out, were to aid in detecting Jesus, 
should he attempt to escape amidst the dense 
shade made by the foliage of the many cedar 
and olive trees which clothed Olivet. Walk- 
ing at the head of them was one he recognized 
— Judas Iscariot! What did it all mean? at 
16 241 


242 


Ezeliiel of Bethlehem ; 


such an hour and in such company — appa- 
rently their leader. 

Ezekiel could not turn back now, he must 
see the outcome of it. Advancing, he was soon 
upon the edge of the procession, which passed 
down the street, out of the Sheep Gate, which 
was left open the night of the Passover feast, 
on toward Bethany; was it possible that place 
was their destination ? if so, whom did they 
seek? There could be but one answer to the 
question. Jesus of Nazareth, yet Judas was 
of his chosen twelve, as these thoughts, and 
many others of like nature, came into Ezekiel’s 
mind, the procession halted ; they had reached 
Gethsemane, and lo! Jesus, calm and self-pos- 
sessed, came forth from the garden to meet 
them. Standing alone, apart from the apos- 
tles, knowing perfectly well the reply that would 
be made to his inquiry, he demanded : “ Whom 
seek ye?” 

“ Jesus of Nazareth,” shouted the crowd. 

The unexpected announcemant, “I am he,” 
came as a thunder- bolt upon them. Instinctively 
they fell back, awe-struck by his regal bearing 
and clear, concise declaration. So great was 
the confusion, that some of them were thrown 
to the ground, but Judas, according to a pre- 
concerted signal, approached Jesus saying, 
“ Hail Master ! ” and kissed him. • 


or. From Bethlehem to Calvary. 243 

Jesus said quietly, “ Judas, betray est thou 
the Son of man with a kiss ? ” 

“ Traitor ! ” exclaimed Ezekiel. 

‘‘ Sayest thou ‘ traitor,’ man ? ” asked one 
standing beside Ezekiel. 

“ Yea, a base one,” replied Ezekiel. 

Again, each word distinctly uttered, was 
heard : “ Whom seek ye ? ” 

Again came the answer, Jesus of Naza- 
reth!” 

‘‘ I have told you that I am he, if therefore 
ye seek me, let these,” turning toward his eleven 
apostles who were now gathered about him, 
** go their way.” 

The crowd closed in about him. His apos- 
tles anxious to do something in their Master’s 
defence, now cried : “ Lord, shall we smite with 
the sword ? ” 

Before Jesus could reply Peter, taking his 
sword out of his girdle, smote a servant of the 
high priest and cut off his right ear. 

Jesus then said to Peter : “ Put up again thy 
sword into the sheath; for all they that take 
the sword shall perish with the sword, thinkest 
thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and 
he shall presently give me more than twelve 
legions of angels? but how then shall the Scrip- 
tures be fulfilled, that thus it must be? ” 


244 


Ezehiel of Bethlehem ; 


Touching the wounded man he instantly 
healed him. Then Jesus was bound with 
ropes, lest he might endeavor to escape. 

“Are ye come out as against a thief with 
swords and staves for to take me ? ” He said 
to the priests and elders, who were along with 
the crowd, “ I sat daily with you teaching in 
the temple, and ye laid no hold on me, but all 
this was done that the Scriptures of the pro- 
phets might be fulfilled.” 

The apostles, seeing that any attempt upon 
their part to rescue their Master would be 
futile, and fearing arrest for themselves, nearly 
all “forsook him and fled.” Peter and John 
only remained, they concealed themselves, until 
the procession with the prisoner had started on 
its return to Jerusalem, then solicitude for him, 
who was their cherished friend, led them to fol- 
low, first to the house of Hannas, the senior 
high priest, who sent Jesus to his son-in-law, 
Caiaphas, the acting high priest, who was, by 
right of his office, the only person with whom 
Pilate would in this behalf hold any official 
communication. 

In one of the rooms opening into the uncov- 
ered enclosure, around which the house of Caia- 
phas stood, a hastily summoned council sat, 
awaiting the prisoner, who was to be brought 


OT^ From Bethlehem to Calvary. 246 

before them, for trial. When Jesus was led, 
bound, before this assembly, they endeavored 
by all manner of means to induce him to say 
something that should be detrimental to his case. 

During the trial one of the officers of the 
court struck Jesus upon the face with his hand, 
saying: “Answerest thou the high priest so?” 

Finally Caiaphas said to him : ‘‘ I adjure thee 
by the living God, that thou tell us whether 
thou be the Christ the Son of God.” 

Jesus answered him, “ Thou hast said, here- 
after shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the 
right hand of power, and coming in the clouds 
of heaven.” 

“ He hath spoken blasphemy,” said Caiaphas, 
as he rent his clothes; ‘‘what further need 
have we of witnesses? behold now ye have 
heard his blasphemy, what think ye ? ” 

“ He is guilty of death,” all responded. 

The council had made their decision, but the 
prisoner must appear before another body of 
the “hierarchy” before being sent to Pilate. 
Meanwhile the judges retired and Jesus was 
left to be the sport of his inhuman jailers, some 
of whom “spit in his face and buffeted him; 
and others smote him with the palms of their 
hands, crying, prophesy unto us, thou Christ 
who is he that smote thee?” 


246 Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

When Peter and John reached the house of 
Caiaphas they found the soldiers and a motley 
crowd before it. John, being known to the 
high priest, was admitted, but Peter stood out- 
side along with the crowd, until John spoke, in 
his behalf, to the servant who attended the 
door, and she allowed Peter to come into the 
open court, where, as the night was cool, a fire 
had been kindled. There he found Ezekiel, 
who had passed into it, unnoticed, with the 
“temple guard” and servants after Jesus had 
been conducted by his captors into the presence 
of the high priest and his fellow-conspirators. 
As they sat near the fire one of the maids, look- 
ing at Peter, said, “This man was also with 
him.” 

“Woman, I know him not,” Peter replied. 

Soon another said to him : “ Thou art also 
one of them.” 

Again he replied, “Man, I am not.” 

Shortly afterward another said confidently to 
those about him : “ Of a truth, this fellow also 
was with him; for he is a Galilean.” 

Peter vehemently declared, “Man, I know 
not what thou sayest.” 

He had scarcely uttered the sentence before 
the shrill sound of a cock crowing smote upon 
his ear. Conscience stricken, Peter glanced 


or^ From Bethlehem to Calvary. 247 

toward the room where the Master he had just 
denied was upon trial for his life. Jesus turned 
and looked through the open door-waj upon 
his recreant disciple. That one look was 
enough, it spoke volumes to him ; oh, if that 
momentary fear for his life had not betrayed 
him into a cowardly disowning of his Master, 
Peter would not have wept so bitterly nor 
gone out into the night overcome with re- 
morse 

Ezekiel sat in the court a long time, how long 
he knew not. When the judges had gone, he 
did not think anything more would be done 
that night, he could not see Jesus, neither 
could he be of any service to him, therefore he 
concluded to go home, knowing his family must 
certainly feel anxiety on his account, as they 
had no knowledge of his whereabouts. 

The family were much distressed, when upon 
his arrival at his friend’s house, he narrated the 
facts of the arrest of Jesus. 

“ Thou bringest us evil tidings, Ezekiel,” said 
his wife, “and now, of all times, when we 
were anticipating so much happiness in seeing 
Jesus.” 

“I fear Naomi,” said Mahlah, “we will not 
see him.” 

“ Look not so gloomily on this my children,” 


24S 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem; 


said the father, “let us hope to hear better news 
on the morrow.” 

“Yea, father,” replied Ezekiel, “let us hope 
and pray, the morrow is not far distant, the 
night wears on, and I must leave thee now and 
try; if possible, to get a little sleep, for I would 
be astir when daylight comes.” 

The sixth day of the week dawned bright and 
clear. Ezekiel and his father left the house 
early without waiting for their host, who was 
not yet prepared to accompany them ; Ezekiel’s 
disquietude about Jesus would not allow him to 
delay. But early as it was, Jesus had been 
taken before the larger council, by them had 
been condemned, and had been taken before 
Pilate, who, whenever he was in Jerusalem, re- 
sided in the magnificent palace built by Herod 
upon Mount Zion. The only time during his 
earthly life that Jesus entered the palace of a 
king, was when he, a closely guarded captive, 
was led into the judgment hall of Pilate. This 
the over- scrupulous priests and elders refused 
to enter lest, as it was Passover time, they 
might be defiled; Pilate, therefore, held the 
trial in the open air. In front of the judgment 
hall in the palace, a raised place had been 
erected, called “The Pavement,” or “Gab- 
batha,” on this, the chair of state was placed 


or, From Bethlehem to Calvary, 249 

during trials of criminal cases; the Gabbatha 
was sufficiently large to hold also the accuser, 
the witnesses, the prisoner and his counsel. 
The onlookers at the trials stood below and 
around the “Gabbatha,” all were in the open 
air, the proceedings of all trials were in full 
view of whoever chose to attend. After Pilate 
had taken his seat, and Jesus had been placed 
before him, he inquired of the priests and 
elders, of what they accused the prisoner, and 
had told them to judge him themselves. 

They answered : “ It is not lawful for us to 
put any man to death.” 

Pilate then questioned Jesus concerning his 
claim to be the king of the Jews, but finding he 
had nothing to fear, that Jesus did not aspire 
to an earthly kingdom, he said to the priests 
and elders, “I find in him no fault at all.” 

Determined that Pilate should not release 
him, they declared fiercely: “He stirreth up 
the people, teaching throughout all Jewry be- 
ginning from Galilee to this place.” 

As soon as Galilee was mentioned, Pilate, 
anxious to shift the responsibility upon some 
one else, sent Jesus to Herod Antipas, tetrarch 
of Galilee and Perea, who was then in Jerusa- 
lem. When brought before Antipas, who had 
been curious to see the great prophet and 


250 Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

miracle worker, Jesus made no reply to the 
tetrarch’s questions. Enraged at this, he and 
his soldiers mocked him, and after arraying him 
in a white robe, in derision of his title “ king of 
the Jews,” as white was the color of Jewish 
regal robes, sent him back to Pilate. These 
two rulers had, for some time, been at enmity, 
but after this were firm friends. Pilate had 
called together again the chief priests and 
elders, and when Ezekiel and his father ap- 
proached the palace, they saw the space below 
it, densely packed with an excited multitude. 

After Pilate had taken his seat, his wife sent 
this message to him: “Have thou nothing to 
do with that just man: for I have suffered 
many things this day in a dream, because of 
him.” 

Pilate then said to the priests and multitude : 
“Ye have brought this man unto me as one 
that perverteth the people : and behold I, hav- 
ing examined him before you, have found no 
fault in this man touching those things whereof 
ye accuse him, no, nor yet Herod; for I sent 
you to him, and lo, nothing worthy of death is 
done unto him, but ye have a custom that I 
should release a prisoner unto you at the Pass- 
over; will ye, therefore, that I release unto you 
the king of the Jews?” 


(?r, From Bethlehem to Calvary, 251 

Then the fanatic crowd cried : “ Not this 
man, but Barabbas?” 

“What shall I do then with Jesus, which is 
called the Christ ? ” asked Pilate. 

“Let him be crucified!” shouted the excited 
throng. 

Weak and vacillating Pilate, when he saw 
that he could not save Jesus from the wrath of 
the infuriated priests and rabble, had water 
brought to him and washing his hands in pre- 
sence of them all said, “ I am innocent of the 
blood of this just person ; see ye to it!” 

The multitude answered : “ His blood be on 
us and on our children.” 

The trial over, Jesus, stripped to the waist, 
was scourged on the open grounds near the 
gate of the palace. After this terrible punish- 
ment, he was led suffering and bleeding into 
the inner court of the building where the sol- 
diers, their duty done outside, were in waiting 
for the prisoner. Jesus was now clothed in his 
own under garments, but in place of his linen 
abba, some of the soldiers put one of their 
discarded cloaks, faced with purple, on his 
shoulders, symbolic of the imperial robes of 
the Caesars and procuring some of the short 
branches of the nubk, which grows outside of 
the walls of Jerusalem, they twined a wreath. 


252 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


which, with cruel merriment, they placed upon 
his head, piercing his brow with the long, sharp 
thorns of the shrub ; putting a reed in his trem- 
bling hands, they struck him and spit upon him 
as they shouted derisively, ‘‘ Hail ! king of the 
Jews.” 

Patiently and meekly he bore it all, the in- 
dignity, the derision, the suffering from the 
stripes given him and from his thorny crown ; 
no word of either pain or reproach, fell from 
his lips. 

Pilate then led him out on the Gabbatha, and 
looking over the angry mob, said : “ Behold, I 
bring him forth to you, that ye may know that 
I find no fault in him.” Pointing to Jesus he 
exclaimed: “Behold the man!” 

“Crucify him! crucify him!” again went up 
from the mob. 

“ Take ye him and crucify him,” said Pilate, 
“ For I find no fault in him.” 

“We have a law, and by that law he ought 
to die, because he made himself the Son of 
God,” came back from the crowd. 

Pilate asked: “Shall I crucify your king?” 

The chief priests answered, “We have no 
king but Csesar.” 

Then Pilate surrendered Jesus to them, and 
they led him away to crucify him. 


or, From Bethlehem to Calvary. 253 

“Oh! father,” exclaimed Ezekiel, “I can 
stand it no longer, let us go home, it is too 
horrible to think I stood here and saw such 
insults paid to the sinless one, the Son of God, 
and I powerless to offer help; and yet, why 
talk 1 so, he went a willing captive; of what 
avail would be my puny arm, when he could 
call forth legions of angels to his aid ? nay, 
nay ; I must not forget he came for man’s re- 
demption, and how else should it be purchased 
but by blood. Let us go, Naomi and Mahlah 
will be longing to hear if their loved Jesus is 
not, by this time, free from his captivity.” 

“Yea, my son, we shall go; they are taking 
him hence bearing his cross to Golgatha.” 


CHAPTER XXXIL 



HEN Ezekiel and liis father reached 


V T their temporary home in Jerusalem, 
Naomi and Mahlah were greatly distressed at 
the sad news they brought them. 

“While upon the roof we were wondering 
whither all the people were going,” said Mahlah, 
“the streets are almost deserted now; what a 
mockery it is, the city all decorated in honor of 
the feast indicative of him they are putting to 
shameful death.” 

“ I know not how persons can, from morbid 
curiosity, go to see such a ghastly spectacle — 
this one above all others. I wish not to re- 
member Jesus in dying agonies upon the cross, 
but as I saw him last, the loving, gentle Mes- 
siah, surrounded by his friends, with my little 
ones in his arms,” said Naomi. 

So they talked on, Ezekiel restlessly walking 
up and down the apartment. 

“Father,” he at last said, “I must go to Gol- 
gotha; I cannot stay away. I must be near 
him till the last; wilt thou go also? ” 

“ Yea, my son.” 

“ Let me go too, father,” cried Jacob. 


254 


From Bethlehem to Calvary, 255 

“Yea, come along; thou must keep close to 
us in the crowd.” 

Ezekiel, his father, and Jacob saw long before 
they reached it the knoll at some little distance 
from the city, called Golgotha, or, as in the 
Latin tongue. Calvaria. The top of it stood 
out bold and bare, save for the three crosses 
which the soldiers had just finished placing in 
position, that of Jesus between those of the two 
thieves, whom Pilate had seen fit to have exe- 
cuted at the same time, around the space left 
at their bases soldiers were stationed, to keep 
back the surging mass of humanity which filled 
the air with ribald jest. 

As the father and Ezekiel, with Jacob’s hand 
firmly grasped in his, drew near, the crowd, 
now that the crosses were in position, seemingly 
by one impulse moved up the hill, each, in his 
mad rush, jostling his foremost neighbor out 
of place, as he strove to get as close as possible 
to the victims, to look upon their faces, espe- 
cially upon that of Jesus. Ezekiel and his 
party eagerly pressing forward finally made 
their way to the line of separation the soldiers 
had drawn between the space around the 
crosses and the multitude. 

“Father,” said Ezekiel, “see, there near by 
stands Mary, the mother of Jesus, Salome her 


256 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

sister, Mary the wife of Cleopas and Mary of 
Magdala with John, the beloved disciple.” 

In the space at the foot of the crosses, four 
of the soldiers were dividing the clothes of 
Jesus, for the under garment, woven without a 
seam, they were throwing dice. 

Gazing at them a few moments, the old man 
shook his head as he said, “They part my gar- 
ments among them and cast lots upon my ves- 
ture.” 

Bound about them rose taunts and sneers; 
scoffers reviled the Son of God even in his 
agony upon the cross ; though his dying prayer 
for them had been, “ Father forgive them, they 
know not what they do.” 

One of the thieves who was hanging beside 
him also abused him, “ If thou be the Christ,” 
he said, “ save thyself and us.” 

But the other one rebuked him, saying, “ Doth 
thou not fear God, seeing thou art in the same 
condemnation ? and we indeed justly ; for we 
receive the due reward of our deeds ; but this 
man hath done nothing amiss,” turning his head 
to Jesus he continued, “ Lord, remember me 
when thou comest into thy kingdom.” 

A balm for his sufferings, were the consoling 
words the penitent heard from the lips of that 
Lord, whom he in his dying agonies, had con- 


or, From Bethlehem to Calvary. 257 

fessed, “Verily I say unto thee, to-day thou 
shall be with me in Paradise.” 

The old man sank upon his knees, the shadow 
of the cross falling over him, beating his breast 
with his hands he cried : “ Ezekiel, he is our 
Messiah; he is our Messiah.” 

“Yea,” responded his son, in awe-struck 
tones, “ He is the Christ ; thou believest now, 
I know, my father, that he is the Christ!” 

I believe, but shame upon me that I doubted 
for so long, and now they are murdering him,” 
sorrowfully exclaimed the old man. 

“ It is even so. Oh, my father, had he not 
chosen to die, they could not have taken him. 
Where would thy hopes and mine be of eternal 
life in the ‘new kingdom” did he not die upon 
the accursed cross? but what a happiness it is 
to believe that he shall rise again ; he hath said 
it and that is sufficient; on the third day he 
shall rise again.” 

“ And he also said, my son, ‘ I am the resur- 
rection and the life.’” 

“Oh, father, father!” Jacob now exclaimed. 
“ Let us go hence ; this is a fearful place ; see, 
it groweth night.” 

“Nay, my son,” replied Ezekiel, “It is but 
the sixth hour.” 

“Then,” said the boy, clutching his father’s 
17 


258 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


robe, “The heavens are gathering blackness; 
wherefore is it father?” 

Looking upward Ezekiel saw the enshroud- 
ing gloom spreading over all things. 

“It must be,” he said, “A veil the Almighty 
spreads betwixt himself and sinful man.” 

“ Is he angry, father?” 

“ More likely grieved, my boy, that when for 
man’s redemption he sent his only Son to 
earth, those he came to save should, with wicked 
hands, shamefully put him to death; what 
wonder then the Father cannot bear to look 
upon the murderers of his Son!” 

“Thy boy seemeth frightened,” said a man 
at his side, to Ezekiel. 

“ Dost wonder, friend ? ” 

“Nay, nay, I marvel not.” 

“Thy dress betokeneth that thou art from 
foreign parts; thou knowest not this Jesus?” 

“ Nay, friend, I knew him not ; yet as I fol- 
lowed to this place with the crowd, he well 
nigh fainted ’neath his heavy load, one of yon 
soldiers singled me out and put upon my 
shoulders the wooden beams, so for him I bore 
them to this Mount.” 

“Thou borest his cross? Man thou wert 
honored far above thy fellows.” 

“Tea, I bore his cross and as we toiled along 


or, From Bethlehem to Calvary. 259 

the way, the air was filled with wailing cries; 
he walked with head bowed down, but once he 
raised it ; never, never shall I forget his face as 
I saw it then, the blood was trickling down his 
brow from wounds the cruel thorns made there, 
and gazing o’er the crowd he said : ‘Daughters 
of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for 
yourselves and for your children.’ ” 

“ Thou wilt from henceforth be his disciple, 
wilt thou not ? Surely thou believest he is the 
Messiah and came to earth for man’s redemp- 
tion, thine and mine ! Thou hast not yet told 
me whence thou art.” 

“I am Simon, from Cyrene.” 

“Gyrene? ’tis far away.” 

Said the centurion, now approaching Ezekiel, 
“This darkness is dreadful! dreadful! I have 
witnessed executions before, but never one like 
this; yon Jesus must be, as he hath said, ‘the 
Son of God.’ ” 

“ He is, centurion, he is the Christ ; yon in- 
scription reads, ‘The king of the Jews’; never 
were truer words writ than those. He is the 
one our prophets of old foretold ; but what is 
that to thee? thou knowest naught of our 
prophets.” 

“I know not of them, but didst not thy 
Christ say, ‘And I, if I be lifted up will draw 
all men unto me ? ’ ” 


260 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


“Yea, so lie saith. Centurion behold! now 
he is lifted up.” 

“And will draw, not only Jews, but all men 
unto him, sayest thou ? ” 

“Tea, all men, thou as well as me: thou art 
a Roman. He was one of us. Son of God, cen- 
turion, yet one of us,” continued Ezekiel, rever- 
ently. “ Thou understandest not how this can 
be, neither can I; but I remember well the 
night he came into the world. I was a boy 
then, it was in mine own town Bethlehem, and 
ever since I have waited and longed to find in 
him the Messiah of my people ; after he came 
to manhood I followed him ; yea, as thou seest, 
even unto death; that is as far as I can go now, 
but,” pointing up to heaven, he continued, “I 
shall follow him there, centurion, I shall follow 
him there, Jesus my Redeemer, Jesus the 
Christ, thou knewest him not as I did else thou 
couldst not help but love him.” 

The darkness was increasing so rapidly that 
they could with difiiculty discern each other’s 
faces, still the old man remained upon his 
knees, beating his breast and muttering to him- 
self, “He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, 
the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us 
all, for the transgression of my people was he 
stricken.” 


or^ From Bethlehem to Calvary. 261 

Jacob continued beseeching his father to go 
home. 

“List, list, he speaketh,” exclaimed Ezekiel. 

“Woman, behold thy son!” Jesus, always 
thoughtful for the welfare of others, was saying 
in loving tones to his mother, as he saw her 
weeping at the foot of his cross ; then to his 
beloved disciple, “Behold thy mother!” 

Both Mary and John understood what he 
meant — his dying Master bequeathed her to 
him — so henceforth she was tenderly cared for 
and cherished in John’s home. 

Jacob still clung to his father, but the dark- 
ness having lasted so long he did not appear to 
fear it so much as at first ; all things about him 
were so gruesome that he, as well as those near, 
were awed into silence. 

Presently, in the language of his childhood, 
the one he was familiar with in his mother’s 
home at Nazareth, the dying Christ was heard 
to utter : “ Eloi ! Eloi ! lama, sabachthani f ” 

The soldiers thought he called for Elias, ono 
of them filhng a sponge with sour wine and 
water, and putting it upon a reed reached it up 
to him to moisten his lips. A few minutes 
more and the triumphant cry, “It is finished!” 
rang out over the assembled multitude ; then, 
confidingly and lovingly the words were spoken, 


262 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


in a soft voice, “ Father, into thy hands I com- 
mend my spirit ! ” 

The old man had risen from his knees when 
Jesus uttered the words, Eloi! Eloi! lama, 
sabachthani f ” and now he stood beside Eze- 
kiel and Jacob, all three of them keeping their 
eyes riveted upon their dying friend. Suddenly 
from his sacred lips came a cry of anguish, and 
with that cry his spirit returned to his Father. 

The earth shook, the rocks were torn asunder, 
the frightened people ran to and fro, anxious in 
their terror to get away from the place ; back 
to Jerusalem, anywhere, that the cross and the 
crucified might be hid from their eyes. 

Again the centurion approached Ezekiel, 
“ Thou art right,” he said, “truly this man was 
the Son of God.” 

As it was now the ninth hour and the Jews 
at that time commenced their preparations for 
the Sabbath, which began at sunset that even- 
ing, they begged that Pilate would allow the 
legs of the sufferers upon the crosses to be 
broken, and the bodies taken away before the 
Sabbath began. Accordingly the soldiers now 
proceeded to execute the barbarous order. 
When they came to Jesus they saw he was 
dead, but one, more brutal than the rest, thrust 
into his side a spear. 


OTy From Bethlehem to^ Calvary. 263 

The gloomy darkness had been gradually 
disappearing since the Saviour’s death, so that 
Ezekiel and the centurion could distinctly see 
blood and water flowing from the wound so 
made. Pointing to it Ezekiel said : “ Thy Ko- 
man cross and nails slew not the Christ, 
heardest thou not that piercing shriek ere he 
gave up the ghost ? seest thou not that stream ? 
centurion, he bore a heavy weight of woe, the 
sin of a guilty world, wonderest thou it broke 
his heart? that heart that never beat but in 
love and peace to all mankind !” 

“ Yea, it must be, for thou rememberest how 
strong was his cry, ‘ It is finished ? ’ ” 

“Strong? it was the shout of a conqueror 
and king; ended was the work he came to earth 
to do ; he was going home in triumph and he 
will be victor even over death ! Centurion, he 
will rise again; he hath been slain, but death 
cannot hold him in its bonds ; he will rise 
again ! ” 

When the centurion left him, Ezekiel said: 
“Father, wilt thou and Jacob walk on? I 
would speak with John.” 

“We shall go home, Ezekiel.” 

Going over to where John stood, Ezekiel 
inquired, “What is now to be done?” 

“Joseph of Arimathea,” replied John, “hath 


264 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

gone to Pilate craving permission to take the 
body of Jesus; here he cometh now,” he con- 
tinued, as Joseph appeared with some of his 
servants, who were carrying a bier, “he hath 
obtained the necessary consent, I see.” 

While Jesus was being taken from the cross 
Mcodemus brought one hundred pounds of 
myrrh and aloes, with which to embalm him. 

Ezekiel did not leave until the body of his 
beloved friend had been prepared for, and laid 
in the new tomb belonging to Joseph, which 
was in a garden not far from Golgotha, or, as 
it is now called. Calvary. 

At the demand of the chief priest and by 
Pilate’s order, a great stone had been rolled 
against the opening into the tomb, the ends of 
ropes crossing it had been firmly secured 
against the adjacent living rock with cement, 
and a guard of soldiers had been placed near, 
lest some of the friends of Jesus should remove 
his body and report that he had risen from the 
dead. 


CHAPTER XXXIIL 


T he Sabbath over, Ezekiel and his little 
party, are on their homeward way to 
Bethlehem. Previous to their departure from 
the city, they heard that Mary, of Magdala, and 
Mary, the mother of James, had gone that same 
morning, very early, to the sepulchre of Jesus, 
taking with them some spices to complete the 
hurried embalment of the day of crucifixion, 
and had found the stone rolled away. 

Then Mary of Magdala ran back to the city 
and told Peter and John, “They have taken 
away the Lord out of the sepulchre and we 
know not where they have laid him.” 

The two apostles hastened to the sepulchre 
and found only the linen clothes, in which the 
body had been wrapped, lying there. Yes, 
Jesus had gone from the tomb and by leaving 
the habilaments of the grave behind him, 
showed to his followers that he had left it for- 
ever. He had vanquished death, and never 
again would the grave have him in its keeping! 
Then both, believing that Jesus had actually 
risen as he had declared unto them he would 
do, returned to the city, but Mary remained 
265 


266 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

weeping beside the tomb; stooping down, she 
looked in, and lo, the tomb was no longer 
empty ! two angels, clad in garments of dazzling 
brightness, were in it. “Woman,” they said, 
“ Why weepest thou ? ” 

“ Because they have taken away my Lord,” 
she mournfully replied, “And I know not where 
they have laid him.” 

Turning away from the sepulchre and seeing 
a man, whom she supposed to be the one hav- 
ing charge of the grounds, she said to him: 
‘Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me 
where thou hast laid him, and I will take him 
away.” 

It required but the one word “ Mary,” which 
now fell from his lips, to tell the grieving 
woman, that he was found whom she sought. 
Falling upon her knees she exclaimed with de- 
light, Rahonni!'" She would have clasped 
his pierced feet in her hands, but he said, 
“ Touch me not ; for I am not yet ascended to 
my Father ; but go to my brethren and say unto 
them I ascend unto my Father and your Father 
and to my God and your God.” As the words 
died upon the air, Jesus vanished from her 
sight. Thus commissioned by himself was 
Mary of Magdala, the first to proclaim to the 
world the beatific tidings of a risen Lord. 


oVj From Bethlehem to Calvary. 267 

Joyful to be the bearer of such a message, she 
hastily repaired to the city, where she narrated 
what she had seen and heard. 

All the family of Ezekiel listened intently to 
this marvelous account; at its close Ezekiel 
said, “He hath indeed arisen, now we must 
be away to Bethlehem.” 

As they were starting from their friend’s 
house, Ben-Ezra came np to them and said, “I 
have found thee, Ezekiel, but only to lose thee 
again I fear. Where art thou going?” 

“ Home to Bethlehem, lad ; I wish I had seen 
more of thee; when goest thou to Caper- 
naum ? ” 

“Not for a few days, Zebedee hath much to 
attend to here.” 

“Lad, thou wilt tire of Jerusalem; come to 
Bethlehem to see us, before thou goest home.” 

“Ezekiel, I shall, I certainly shall.” 

“The blessing of the Lord be upon thee, 
Ben-Ezra; now we must be off.” 

After the whole party bade him and their 
kindly host and hostess farewell, Ben-Ezra 
stood watching till they were out of sight. “ To 
Bethlehem I must go, without fail,” he said to 
himself. 

The way was not long, the blossoming trees, 
the mild spring air, the peace and quietness 


268 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem. 


that reigned all about them, rendered their 
journey pleasant, yet they all were glad when 
they caught a glimpse of Bethlehem, and 
gladder still when welcomed home by the dear 
old mother and the children they had left in 
her care. 

“ Mother,” said Ezekiel, when giving her an 
account of what had taken place in Jerusalem, 
“ Didst thou have the darkness here ? ” 

“ Tea, my son, I knew not what the mysteri- 
ous token signified, it affrighted man and beast, 
the birds ceased their songs as though it were 
night.” 

“Mother, thou rememberest the gorgeous 
veil in the temple ? ” 

“What of it, my son?” 

“From top to bottom, it is rent. I saw it 
myself yesterday. The holy of holies is no 
longer concealed from the people, no longer 
can only the high priest enter that sacred place, 
it stands open to all.” 

“When happened that, my son?” 

“It was done when the Christ died, it de- 
noteth something, mother; can it be, that from 
henceforth, the Gentiles wiU have an equal 
right with the Israelites to enter into the 
presence of the Lord ? ” 

“I know not, my sen.” 


or. From Bethlehem to Calvary. 269 

“ It must be so ; thou rememberest he offered 
redemption to all men.” 

“ What has become of that wretched creature, 
Judas ? ” inquired his mother. 

It seemeth that he repented, when too late, 
of his traitorous designs, and carried the thirty 
pieces of silver to the priests at the temple; 
when they refused to take it back again he 
threw it down before them and went out and 
hanged himself.” 

“What did the priests with the money? It 
was the price of blood, my son.” 

Yea, mother, and, therefore, they could not 
use it in the service of the Lord, so they bought 
with it a field, in which to bury strangers.” 

“Aye, it was even as Zechariah hath said, 
‘ So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of 
silver, and the Lord said unto me, cast it unto 
the potter ; a goodly price that I was prized at 
of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver 
and cast them to the potter in the house of the 
Lord.’” 

One morning, about a week after their return 
from Jerusalem, Jacob ran into the house ex- 
claiming: “Ben-Ezra hath come! Ben-Ezra 
hath come ; here he is 1 ” 

“ The blessing of the Lord be upon thee, lad ; 
happy ara I to welcome thee to Bethlehem,” 


270 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


said Naomi, as Ben-Ezra, bright and cheerful, 
entered the house. The most comfortable seat 
in the room was tendered to him, and water 
was brought to bathe his feet, after which, the 
children clustered around him, while he told 
incidents of his Capernaum home and, what 
was more entertaining to the boys, some of his 
experiences while fishing in the beautiful Sea 
of Galilee. 

In the evening, when Ezekiel had returned 
from his ground outside the town, he said: 
“Ben-Ezra, what knowest thou more of the 
Christ?” 

“ He hath appeared to some of his apostles 
and bade them go into Galilee, where he would 
eventually see them.” 

“Into Galilee?” 

“Yea, and afterward he met and conversed 
with two of his followers, I mean not apostles, 
on their way to Emmaus.” 

“ Did thej recognize him, Ben-Ezra ? ” 

“Nay, not until he had, at their invitation, 
entered their abode and was dining with them ; 
and on the evening of the day thou left Jeru- 
salem, he appeared in the midst of ten of his 
apostles, Thomas being absent, who were as- 
sembled together; they thought him a spirit, 
but by the showing to them of his pierced 


or. From Bethlehem to Calvary. 271 

Lands and feet, he convinced them of his iden- 
tity, and last evening he came again to the 
apostles. Thomas who had doubted, when he 
heard of the Christ being seen by the apostles 
the other time, was now present, and the Christ 
surely knew of Thomas’ doubts, for he told him 
to put his finger into the marks left by the 
nails in his hands, and to thrust his hand into 
the wound made by the spear, in his side, and 
to believe, not to be faithless.” 

“It is all wonderful! wonderful!” exclaimed 
Ezekiel, “Thomas must have believed when he 
saw those pierced hands that have never been 
outstretched save to bestow mercy upon or to 
bless the suffering. What said he?” 

“All he could say was, ‘My Lord and my 
God!’” 

“What a beautiful trait is faith,” said the 
grandmother. 

“Aye, mother, thou art the only one present 
who hath not seen the Messiah, whom from 
henceforth we will call the Christ, and yet thou 
hast faith in him as well as we ; it seemeth to 
me, they will be more blessed who have not 
seen, and yet have believed.” 

“My hope, my son, is to be his, forever 
his.” 

“The blessing sought, came to the greater 


272 Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 

number of those healed by Jesus, through their 
faith in him,” said Ezekiel. 

“I wonder how many miracles the Christ 
performed,” exclaimed Ben-Ezra. 

“ I know not whether he hath wrought more 
than thirty-six, but that many I have either 
witnessed or have heard of,” answered Ezekiel. 

“Father, dost thou recollect I told thee long 
ago, I should find out what Jesus meant when 
he said, ‘That many should be gathered into 
the kingdom from the east and the west and 
the children be cast out ? ’ ” 

“ I remember, my son.” 

“He knew that our people, through their 
rabbis and chief men, would reject him and 
hunt him to his death, and for that, is it not so, 
think je, the children will be cast out?” 

“Thou speakest truly, I verily believe, and 
so shall be verified that which was spoken more 
than fifteen hundred years ago, ‘ I will declare 
the decree : the Lord hath said unto me. Thou 
art my Son ; this day have I begotten thee. 
Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen 
for thin© inheritance, and the uttermost parts 
of the earth for thy possession.’” 

“Father,” spoke Jacob, “We shall not be 
cast out, shall we?” 

“ Nay, boy, we did not reject him, we are his 


or, From Bethlehem to Calvary. 273 

followers, we belong to him,’’ said Ezekiel, 
proudly. 

“And we must strive as far as possible, to 
walk as he walked all through his life, doing 
good to others, ever obedient to his Fathers 
will,” remarked the grandmother. 

“ What a happiness it is,” said Mahlah, “for 
us to know we are privileged to live a life so 
replete with blessedness.” 

“ Yea, daughter, and no one hath so good a 
right to enjoy this life, as a follower of the 
Christ. Doth not sunshine and brightness suc- 
ceed the rain? doth not refreshed vegetation 
thankfully look up through the tear drgps on 
its leaves? doth not blossom and fruit come 
after decay of the seed? so, after these most 
sorrowful days, when he, whom we love, hath 
been ruthlessly taken away, gladness will come 
again, if we but walk aright. The way for 
some of us may not be very long, but be it long 
or short, let us, my children, make it a joyous 
way. 

“It can be naught else, mother, if we keep 
close to him,” said Ezekiel. 

“We should be ungrateful did we not do 
that, my son, when he hath done so much for 
us.” 

“Yea, mother, I fear we do not realize what 
18 


274 


Ezehiel of Bethlehem ; 


possibilities there are for the benefit of man- 
kind, in Jesus’ plan of redemption ; it teacheth 
unselfishness, love, mercy, a life of usefulness, 
and kindness; we, who have accepted of it, 
should exert all the influence that we can to 
bring others to a knowledge of its glorious 
truths; our religion should be of the positive, 
not negative kind; our faith in the Christ 
should blossom out in earnest work for him.’' 

“It is sad how few persons appreciate the 
fact, that from each one of us goes forth an un- 
seen influence,” returned the grandmother, “let 
us see to it that ours shall always be for good, 
then when the last hour on earth cometh to us, 
it will be ecstacy to know that we are going to 
our supernal home, to be forever with Jesus, 
the Christ!” 


CHAPTEK XXXIV. 


“ ry'EBEDEE!” 

The old man looking up from the net 
he was mending, turned toward the speaker: 
^‘Ah! Ben-Ezra, art thou here?” 

“Yea, good friend, it is I.” 

“ How thou hast grown, it appeareth that the 
few weeks since I saw thee last hath added 
somewhat to thy stature; how time flieth; only 
a short while ago thou seemed but a little lad 
and now thou art a man, ready for thy life-work ; 
art thou still of the same mind as when thou left 
me and the fishing a month ago ? ” 

“The same, good friend, and I come now to 
bid thee good-bye and to thank thee for all the 
many years of kindness to me,” replied Ben-Ezra. 

“Think not of that lad, why should I be 
otherwise to thee? rememberest thou, when 
more than two years ago thou didst ask me to 
let thee follow Jesus, as did James and John, 
Simon and Andrew ? ” 

“Yes, I remember; and when we went to 
Jerusalem, it was only to see him die, but I 
never forgot it, and now, thou knowest, I am 
going to tell the story of our Lord to those who 
275 


276 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


know not of Jesus, the Christ, nor of his cruel 
death upon the cross.” 

“Aye, aye,” said the old man, rising to his 
feet, “his death upon the cross was a blessed 
thing for us who believe on him ; it is our pass- 
port to heaven, thou hast chosen a noble call- 
ing, lad.” 

Ben-Ezra grasped the old man by the hand, 
and, kissing him, said : “I know thou dost wish 
me success in it, dear friend, and now God care 
for and bless thee.” 

“ Wherever thou goest may the God of our 
fathers have thee in his keeping for the sake of 
his dear son,” replied Zebedee, as Ben-Ezra 
turned to leave him. 

Ever afterward Ben-Ezra loved to think of 
him as he last saw him, standing beside the 
blue waters of the Sea of Galilee, the sweet 
sunshine of that early June, morning all about 
him, the busy city upon one side of him and 
the gleaming waters, dotted with boats, upon 
the other, and he standing alone upon the sands 
between the two, seemed to Ben-Ezra (as he 
looked back upon him and thought that his 
friend’s life-work was almost finished) to be 
waiting in peace and patience for his summons 
from that Lord whose story he, Ben-Ezra, was 
going abroad to tell. 


or, From Bethlehem to Calvary. 277 

Ben-Ezra called upon several of his friends 
after parting from Zebedee, so that it was well 
on in the afternoon before he started for Beth- 
saida. 

The sun had gone down when he arrived at 
his mother’s house, and knowing at that time 
in the evening he would find her upon the roof, 
most likely at her wheel spinning, he ascended 
the steps and was soon at her side. The flax 
dropped from her hands and trailed in long 
threads over the roof, as she arose to greet her 
boy. 

“ My son, my son,” she cried, embracing him, 
“ thy foot-fall maketh music to mine ear, where 
hast thou tarried so long?” 

‘‘Long? mother dear, I have only been gone 
from thee three weeks, I had many to see and 
much to do, but now I have two whole days to 
spend with thee.” 

“ Two days go by swiftly, but we shall crowd 
them with happiness, my lad ; ” looking fondly 
at him she continued, “ thou mayest be a young 
man to others, but to me thou wilt always be 
my lad, Ben-Ezra, and just now, thou art a 
hungry one I doubt not.” 

“ Thou sayest truly, a long walk giveth one a 
keen appetite.” 

“ Come below with me and thy hunger shall 


27'8 Ezekiel of Bethlehem; 

be appeased, afterward we shall return here, and 
before the darkness of the night cometh thou 
shalt tell me of thyself and thy aims.” 

When Ben-Ezra had partaken of the refresh- 
ment his mother had prepared for him, they 
went to the roof, and seating himself upon a 
stool at her feet, he said : “Ah! this seemeth like 
old times again, when I was a boy and sat upon 
this same stool in this same place.” 

“And when thou wentest with Zebedee, how I 
missed thee ; but he was a good master and was 
ever kind to thee and I felt that thou wert only a 
few miles distant, but now thou art going so far 
away I know not when I shall see thee again.” 

“Yea, mother, but thou knowest who is iny 
Master now ; I must obey his command ; thou 
rememberest he said, ‘ Go ye into all the world 
and preach the gospel,’ and again, forty days 
after his crucifixion, when he appeared to his 
faithful few who were gathered together, he 
said, ‘ Ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in 
Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, 
and unto the uttermost part of the earth.’ 
When he had so spoken he ascended to heaven ; 
oh! mother, mother, what a sight it must have 
been to watch him rise higher and higher, up, 
up, until the cloud which opened to receive 
him hid him from view.” 







, *■ .'. ?3i 

* *' * ' • 1 *1 . I - ♦ , r. 



1 • 




or. From Bethlehem to Calvary. 279 

“Tea, one almost beyond conception, I mar- 
vel not liis friends stood speechless as they 
gazed.” 

“I have sometimes thought, mother, that 
what appeared to our earthly vision to be a 
cloud, was part of the innumerable host of 
heaven sent to escort him home in triumph, 
thou knowest he had completed the work his 
Father sent him here to do.” 

“Aye, my son, and naught could be more 
fitting than that he should go back to his 
Father, as a conqueror is attended on his re- 
turn, victorious.” 

“After that the apostles tarried in Jerusalem, 
as Jesus had bidden them do, until they were 
baptized with the Holy Spirit.” 

“ Thou meanest the time when the tongues 
of fire descended upon their heads as they 
prayed in that upper chamber in Jerusalem, 
ten days after the ascension.” 

“ Yea, and thou knowest the persecution that 
was waged against our church in Jerusalem 
sent many thence to testify of the Christ, as 
the Greeks call him; Philip, not mine uncle, 
but an evangelist who was one of the deacons, 
hath carried the tidings into Samaria and there 
wrought a good work for the Christ. Mother, 
hast thou heard that afterward he went into 


280 


Ezekiel of Bethlehem ; 


Jerusalem and thence down to Gaza upon 
which journey he met the treasurer of Queen 
Candace of Ethiopia, who had been at Jeru- 
salem to worship ? ” 

“Nay, I knew not of that, canst tell me aught 
of the meeting ? ” 

“ Yea, the Holy Spirit saith unto Philip, ‘ Go 
near and join thyself unto this chariot,’ as he 
did so, he heard the eunuch, who was the trea- 
surer, reading these words from our prophet 
Isaiah, ‘ He was led as a sheep to the slaughter ; 
and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so 
opened he not his mouth; in his humiliation 
his judgment was taken away; and who shall 
declare his generation? for his life is taken 
from the earth,’ turning to Philip the eunuch 
inquired, ‘ Of whom the prophet spoke ? ’ Then 
as they together rode in the great man’s chariot, 
Philip told him of Jesus and that only those 
who believe on him and trust in him for salva- 
tion can have any part in eternal life, and when 
they were come unto a stream of water, the 
Ethiopian said, ‘ See, here is water, what doth 
hinder me from being baptized?’ Philip an- 
swered, ‘If thou believest with all thy heart, 
thou mayest.’ I know Philip must have been 
glad when he heard the man answer, ‘I believe 
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.’ So he 


or^ from Bethlehem to Calvary. 281 

baptized him, and as they were coming up from 
the water the Holy Spirit caught Philip and 
carried him away out of the Ethiopian’s sight, 
and the next we heard of him he was at Azotus 
preaching.” 

“ Did not the Ethiopian marvel at his sudden 
disappearance? ” 

“ I know not ; we only heard that he went on 
his way rejoicing.” 

“ Where is this Philip now ? ” 

“ He is in Caesarea.” 

“And in two days thou leavest me to go forth 
to work, as he doth, for the Master.” 

“Yea, mine friend and co-worker, Ezekiel, is 
even now, I doubt not, on his way from Beth- 
lehem to join me here, and I know, mother 
dear, that as we journey about from place to 
place, spreading the glad tidings of salvation, 
thou wilt not forget us in thy prayers.” 

“ Forget thee? nay, nay my lad, as the morn- 
ing mists rise to greet the coming sun, so shall 
my prayers ascend to heaven, that many may 
come to know Jesus as their Saviour and Re- 
deemer, through hearing thee tell the beautiful 
story of our risen Lord.” 



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